Einmal Hans mit scharfer Soße (2013) Reviews

• Finding love/meaning in life

  kosmasp2015-03-03

  This movie has many genuine moments, that are actually funny. The setting is pretty easy, and could be summarized with ""old" daughter has to find a husband quickly". This premise has a background other than just the father being anxious about his daughter and worrying about her future. Unfortunately that mood often times is destroyed by simple and too obvious failings (by characters or the script). Still even when the movie sinks low, there is always at least a moment that it sparks and the main actress is doing a really good job conveying even the most far out idea the script is trying to sell. The family as a unit "works" quite nicely. Life is not perfect and this movie isn't either, but it's decent enough

• A mostly botched attempt at making another German foreign culture comedy

  Horst_In_Translation2019-03-05

  "Einmal Hans mit scharfer Soße" is a German movie from 2013, so it had its 5th anniversary last year and this one runs for 1.5 hours approximately and was directed by Buket Alakus and is based on a novel by Hatice Akyün. No coincidence that the main character is called Hatice too. You could say that despite a dramatic moment here and there, this is a full-on romantic comedy. It is the story of a women in her 30s (lead actress Idil Üner is much older than her character here) who badly wants to get married to make her father happy you could say. Of course, she wants love and happiness for herself too, but yeah this is what is always mentioned about her family and that she has a certain pressure because another sister in her family is already pregnant, even if the father is gone. So she basically struggles from one romantic adventure into the next. But it is very bizarre and hard to understand from my standpoint. Of course, marriage is seen completely different in Turkey, but maybe it is time to adjust to our customs here and wait until you found someone who you actually can see yourself being with for the rest of your life? Cannot understand the main character's actions at all. I know she was supposed to be seen as gooy and clumsy, but a good person at heart, but I honestly found her very unlikable. This refers to her idea that she only wants to marry a German man for whatever reason or one scene in specific that was cringeworthy when she is told some Turkish fella comes to her town and reacts like a true racist before finding out the comment was very harmless. The beginning was strange too with her ending the relationship with her boyfriend the very same time when she is about to present him to her father. I mean if she does that, then it cannot be so serious or you would not leave somebody from one moment to the next without trying to fix the relationship, but still she intends to show the man to her father. Oh my not gonna go into detail about that any further. I must say I struggled with the main character in general, but this is not just Üner's fault, but also the way she was written. And the way the whole film was written. There is one example when we see the females of the family being in the kitchen together and preparing a meal and I think that is all there is. A kitschy soundtrack, some signs of affection, some dancing even, felt very strange. And there are other scenes that felt fake too. The biggest weakness for this film is perhaps the dialogue writing. On so many occasions, I did not have the impression i was watching actual people, but actors reciting poorly written lines. One example: the father keeps talking about the second-oldest daughter. Like verbally. You would not say that in his place. You would say the name. Or nickname maybe too. You will find other example when you watch this film. If you decide to do so, that is, and in my opinion you shouldn't. This one is even worse than the already low rating here on imdb suggests and 4 out of 10 is pretty generous in my opinion. There is a whole lot more wrong than right with this movie and on a worse day, I easily could have given it one star out of five only. So, definitely a thumbs-down from me for this film that also has a pretty embarrassing "Döner" reference in the title. Watch something else instead.