Kick'n Rush (2003) Poster

(2003)

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5/10
Good intentions.. But..
ks411 April 2004
A well intentioned danish love drama, with a story that has been seen before, or something similiar to it at least, but the movie feels rather unexperienced all the way through.

Bo, Mikkel og Jakob are 3 really good friends in a small town in Denmark, they all go to the same class in school and after school they play at the same soccer team, and hangs out talking about girls and lifes other mysteries, Jakob is very fascinated by a girl in class, but as she moves away faith teams him up with her former partner in school, Mathilde for a history project, And Jakob's love story can begin, his and his partners unexperience is obvious though and he finds himself drifting away from his best friends.

The unexperienced crew behind and infront of the camera in this movie shines through a lot, sadly i think, because the movie got many good intentions and it's a good attempt to create a solid love thriller with a byte, but somewhere in all the unexperience it fails, mostly i think it's moving too fast, too many details are skipped and that way seems unrealistic, for an example it's like Jakob and Mathilde are in love with each other even before they get to know each other, so basically Jakob moves from not wanting to have anything to do with her, to want to have love with her, a bit drastic and unrealistic i think, however it does feel like he doesn't know which leg to stand on. Which is often the case for this age group, i know it, i myself in that age group.

As a result of this, plus the obvious unexperienced actors, it is hard to get personal with the characters, which means that it doesn't get to your heart, again as a result of this you don't feel the sorrow and sadness as the movie wants you to feel, as everything starts falling apart for the characters. Also i think that the movie is trying to go over to much, from a simple love story, it tries to create a world of too many mysteries and betrayes, for example the scene with Mikkel and Mathilde at her work, how does this go unforgotten, there isn't really ever an explanation to this awkward scene, it's like it was squeezed in, i don't know how many scenes were recorded, but i can't help to think that it feels like the director have cut a lot of main ones, and included some who weren't as important, at least not from my point of view.

The directing of the movie feels very unexperienced as i just passed through, i think there are some good points, but the editing part of it must have been hard, becuase it often feels like something has been left out or skipped past, or maybe it's the script, what do i know, but i think it shines through that the director is not very experienced.

For the acting of this movie it was yet again very unexperienced, and even though the girls are cute and the boys ok, they look like danish people, i do liked Mathilde though, she was pretty nice, but something that goes for all of them is that their acting just doesn't feel very engaging, it feels a bit hollow, which causes for the movie not really get reach inside you, which i think is important, especially for a story like this. The love scenes are pretty well done for an unexperienced crew like this, and i'm sure the two main actors as Jakob and Mathilde were rather nervous doing it, but that's what turned out best.

I'm giving my vote on this movie based on what i think is good intentions, the movie has high ambitions, it's obvious that it wants to be proffesional and sophisticated, but it just doesn't succeed in all those things, so i give my vote basically becuase i think the movie is still a good attempt, even though it eventually tries to get it's hands around too many things, which makes it feel a bit uncompleted, but the story is there, perhaps more experience to crew would have made for a better movie, i still enjoyed it though, but maybe because it's something i can easily relate too.

5/10
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6/10
Scandinavian suburbia
endymionng9 April 2007
Prototypical coming of age story, with some rather inexperienced actors - this sometimes has its charms, but too little is happening and the story is not gritty enough for that to work this time. Also there is the annoyance of a very intrusive soundtrack with a tendency to eat the spoken sentences - and since most of the lyrics is in danish they will be of no help whatsoever to people who don't speak the language.

Better movie's for people who like these kinds of movies would be Zappa, Twist and Shout, F***ing Åmål and Gregorys Girl.

For the English speaking public it should be noted that the danish title literally means "2 twitches and a pass" and is a euphemism for youthful male self gratification :-) Hence the "Kick n' Rush" title is a bit misleading even though there is a lot of soccer in the movie...
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5/10
bend it like Danish relationships
lee_eisenberg2 July 2022
Aage Rais-Nordentoft's "2 ryk en aflevering" ("Kick'n Rush" in English) focuses on some teenagers, their relationships with each other, and their love of soccer (which most of the world calls football). I suspect that the movie's grainy cinematography was meant to emphasize the characters' gritty existence, but that's really all that I can say for the movie. It certainly pushes the image of Scandinavians as understated and meek.

If there were a film course focusing on sports-themed movies, I could see including this one along with "Rocky", "North Dallas Forty", "The Natural", "Cool Runnings", "The Air Up There", "Bend It Like Beckham" and "Concussion". One of the things that I wondered seeing the characters in the video store is whether or not Denmark still has independent video stores (I still prefer those to streaming).

So yes, what would YOU do with Cameron Diaz in such a situation?
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9/10
Not another teenage crazy comedy
string-314 June 2005
I don't know how was the promo campaign run in the other parts of the world, but here in the Czech republic it was a bit too confusing. One awaited another crazy comedy like American Pie, where the only goal of the male teenage characters was to score (that means to have sex with a girl:-) The fact is that the movie is about having first sex, but it is also about friendship, growing up, communication with parents. It is not a must-laugh-very-loud comedy. The movie tries to look more under the surface. You will definitely laugh, but not loud, it will be that bittersweet kind of inner laugh (if you know what I mean).

The movie is a good compromise between a not very demanding teenage comedy and a deeper look into a soul of a teenager. Not only teenagers but even the older ones (like me :-( )can watch it. While watching, you will both relax and think a bit at the same time. I can easily imagine the scenario being spoiled by Hollywood filmmakers. What makes the movie well balanced (yet another time!!) is also the fact that it is a Scandinavian movie.

I personally love this kind of movies. So if you like movies like Finnish "Pearls and Pigs" or Swedish "Fucking Amal" you should definitely see this one. If you match the movie with the right genre, you can't give less than 9 stars.

Enjoy watching it.
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