Verlengd weekend is about two workers of a closed down factory who hold their boss hostage in his mansion. The movie is shot on a very low budget, even for a Belgian one. But- as the producer said in the advance screening-it doesn't show. Jan Decleir is as great as ever, and so are the other actors. The writing is full of funny one liners, maybe one to many, but hey, it's a social comedy (dixit Koen De Bouw. Expect some laughs, even some the scriptwriter didn't intend. I enjoyed this movie, but it was very hard to overcome the very irritating cheap keyboard music by Fonny De Wulf. He gets the award for ruining a perfectly good movie, especially the beginning (very Flikken-esquire) and the end (melodrama anyone?). If only they had spend more on the music...
3 Reviews
very entertaining on an unusual topic
wvisser-leusden19 February 2015
Warning: Spoilers
'Verlengd weekend' (= Dutch for 'Prolonged weekend') is an entertaining & typical Flemish film with a pretty unusual theme.
Director Hans Herbots presents us with a combination of taking someone as hostage for reasons of social conflict. Using the money released in this way for helping its victims. Somewhat like Robin Hood did.
This film's credible story entertains you throughout, never gets dull, and provides many unexpected twists and turns.
Another somewhat surprising feature is its main cast of three men (veteran-actor Jan Decleir among them) and one young woman. She nowhere and never gets naked, which says much positive about the quality of 'Verlengd weekend'.
Her name is Veerle Baetens, by the way, an actress who in later years would emerge much more prominent than at the time when 'Verlengd weekend' was shot (2005).
Director Hans Herbots presents us with a combination of taking someone as hostage for reasons of social conflict. Using the money released in this way for helping its victims. Somewhat like Robin Hood did.
This film's credible story entertains you throughout, never gets dull, and provides many unexpected twists and turns.
Another somewhat surprising feature is its main cast of three men (veteran-actor Jan Decleir among them) and one young woman. She nowhere and never gets naked, which says much positive about the quality of 'Verlengd weekend'.
Her name is Veerle Baetens, by the way, an actress who in later years would emerge much more prominent than at the time when 'Verlengd weekend' was shot (2005).
did not live up to its great potential
myriamlenys27 August 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Two workers, made redundant, hope to extract a minimum of justice by raiding the house of the unpleasant owner who deliberately drove their factory into the ground. They've got a cunning plan, which begins to go south when an unexpected visitor shows up. Turns out that the boss, a married man, has been indulging himself with a sassy young mistress...
A disappointing movie, this one. It began in a very promising way, introduced some genuinely interesting characters, built up a nice head of steam with many a moment of wit and excitement - and then sank like a soufflé. The end fell squarely into the "lead balloon" department.
It's a pity, because "Verlengd Weekend" had a prize cast made up of Belgium's finest. (And to give the actors their due, it was not their fault that the movie collapsed, the problem came from the screenplay and writing.) The movie also had socio-economic relevance : by the year 2005, Belgium counted many, many, many workers who had put in 20 or 30 years of honest labour, only in order to discover that their job had vanished overnight as a result of somebody's greed or dishonesty.
I'd like to say that things have improved, but I don't do drugs.
A disappointing movie, this one. It began in a very promising way, introduced some genuinely interesting characters, built up a nice head of steam with many a moment of wit and excitement - and then sank like a soufflé. The end fell squarely into the "lead balloon" department.
It's a pity, because "Verlengd Weekend" had a prize cast made up of Belgium's finest. (And to give the actors their due, it was not their fault that the movie collapsed, the problem came from the screenplay and writing.) The movie also had socio-economic relevance : by the year 2005, Belgium counted many, many, many workers who had put in 20 or 30 years of honest labour, only in order to discover that their job had vanished overnight as a result of somebody's greed or dishonesty.
I'd like to say that things have improved, but I don't do drugs.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
