In many ways, this film reminded me of the classic Hollywood film LARCENY INCORPORATED with Edward G. Robinson. In this 1940s film, a small gang of crooks buy a luggage store in order to tunnel from the basement into the nearby bank--the only trouble is that after a while they find that they enjoy the business and they start to make money so they decide to go straight! In BLINKENDE LYGTER, you also have a small gang that initially does something VERY stupid--they steal a suitcase for their boss, a very dangerous crook, but impulsively run away instead of delivering it when they discover it's full of cash. Their plans to run to Barcelona, though, fall through when their vehicle breaks down and they are stuck in the middle of no where. They take shelter in an old abandoned inn and when they are discovered by a neighbor, they panic and say they are there because they are re-opening the inn. Since they are hiding out but don't want to draw suspicion, they begin going through the motions of restoring the old home, but after a while this group's leader, Torkild, decides they should actually stay and try to run the inn after all! But considering none of them know how to cook AND they are all very screwed up people AND a mob boss has sworn to find them and kill them, it's definitely an uphill battle!
While the film was at times pretty funny, it wasn't exactly a comedy since there were some pretty brutal moments, there was a lot of pretty adult language and situations and the film took some awfully serious diversions--showing flashbacks intended to explain why the four crooks chose a life of crime. As for me, these all tended to blunt the comedic impact of the film and probably could have been a more successful film if it had avoided the serious moments--particularly the flashbacks. Still, it's unique enough and offers some bizarrely funny moments--such as the amazing way the four eventually deal with the man looking to kill them. A very good Danish film that is worth a look.
While the film was at times pretty funny, it wasn't exactly a comedy since there were some pretty brutal moments, there was a lot of pretty adult language and situations and the film took some awfully serious diversions--showing flashbacks intended to explain why the four crooks chose a life of crime. As for me, these all tended to blunt the comedic impact of the film and probably could have been a more successful film if it had avoided the serious moments--particularly the flashbacks. Still, it's unique enough and offers some bizarrely funny moments--such as the amazing way the four eventually deal with the man looking to kill them. A very good Danish film that is worth a look.