"It's just like "Jackass", but with a heart," describes the television producer about his latest discovery, a video diary documenting the exploits of three twenty-something bachelors in varying states of arrested development, that he wants to premiere as a new segment on some daytime talk show. But before the host signs off on his boss' latest concept, he asks Kristoffer(Nicolai Cleve Broche) if Stig Inge(Anders Baasmo Christiansen), an agoraphobic, will be able to withstand the attention and public scrutiny that a television personality unconditionally merits. Sensing the truth about his roommate's neurosis as being a potential deal-breaker, Kristoffer agrees with his employer's coercive assertion that Stig Inge is only acting, just like any person in the reality TV genre.
For now, the gig is a boom for Kristoffer, but it's only delaying the inevitable reckoning; that fateful day he compares his younger self on videotape with the face staring back at him in the mirror. Before this stroke of luck, Elisabeth(Jane Formoe), a partner at a PR firm, breaks up with Kristoffer soon after he resists her gentle needling that he commit more fully to their relationship? And who can blame her? When she visits Kristoffer to get her house key back, he's playing table hockey with Geir(Aksel Hennie) in a residence more suitable for young adults fresh out of college. Suddenly without a girlfriend, Kristoffer realizes that he and Geir need careers(they hang advertisements on billboards), but before this epiphany has a chance to really sink in, the television station calls and growing up is put on hold.
Borrowing a page from Swedish filmmaker Lars Von Trier, this Norwegian production has an English title. While "Buddy" is not a caustic film by any means, Norwegian culture has clearly been subordinated by American popular culture in the lives of Kristoffer and Geir, whose work is clearly derived from the MTV reality show starring Johnny Knoxville. Just like a real American, these two Norwegian males seem to have fallen into an interminable adolescence. After Geir jumps out of a five-story window, American rock music(in the alternative vein) accompanies Kristoffer's escape from the TV station's security-men. Those dropped tapes lead to their "Jackass"-inspired antics being aired to public acclaim, an endorsement of American's worst excesses, which makes jackasses out of the Norwegian people. Although Kristoffer is essentially the same "Charlie's Angels" t-shirt-wearing layabout he was before the split, Elisabeth returns to him, despite the fact that's he's getting his money for nothing; despite the fact of being a real jackass when he betrays Geir by airing his personal life to the viewing public.
While shooting a group of kids kicking around a soccer ball, Kristoffer finds Geir's kid among the assembling bodies. The stuntman can longer hold back the years. When Kristoffer points his camera towards Geir on some high scaffolding, we realize that his daredevil work is an act of fatalism, not bravery, or rather, post-bravery that stems from having a death wish. While the sequence of this drama unravels, Kristoffer expressed his own maturity through film-making. This time, Geir's derring-do has a context, unlike previous stunts that revealed nothing about this secret father except his own apparent stupidity. Context is what Kristoffer needed, too. Henriette(Pia Tjelta) gives the filmmaker context, whom he freezes on his display panel. Adulthood transformed Kristoffer's aesthetics, now it'll transform his life.
Grilled by another talk show host about how Kristoffer's films continue to exploit a mentally-disturbed man, the talk show host defends himself by insisting that Stig Inge is an actor. To help ward off further criticism, the friendly introvert consents to a live appearance, and predictably, he freezes in front of the camera. Although "Buddy" lays the blame on Kristoffer for bamboozling the producer and host, it's hard to believe that people in the television industry would care one way or another if Stig Inge was an actor or not. It's all about ratings, not ethics. "Buddy" wants to show that Norwegian television is more ethical than American television, so it makes Kristoffer the scapegoat when Stig Inge melts down. To calm his subject down, the filmmaker becomes a friend, and sings a soccer fight song to relieve Stig Inge of all the attention. In this moment, Kristoffer comes full circle; he's a different man from that other guy who filmed his subject outside the grocery store, unable to pick up a soda can that rolled past his safety zone.
Kristoffer loses his show, and just in time. He can't be a jackass for the rest of his life.
For now, the gig is a boom for Kristoffer, but it's only delaying the inevitable reckoning; that fateful day he compares his younger self on videotape with the face staring back at him in the mirror. Before this stroke of luck, Elisabeth(Jane Formoe), a partner at a PR firm, breaks up with Kristoffer soon after he resists her gentle needling that he commit more fully to their relationship? And who can blame her? When she visits Kristoffer to get her house key back, he's playing table hockey with Geir(Aksel Hennie) in a residence more suitable for young adults fresh out of college. Suddenly without a girlfriend, Kristoffer realizes that he and Geir need careers(they hang advertisements on billboards), but before this epiphany has a chance to really sink in, the television station calls and growing up is put on hold.
Borrowing a page from Swedish filmmaker Lars Von Trier, this Norwegian production has an English title. While "Buddy" is not a caustic film by any means, Norwegian culture has clearly been subordinated by American popular culture in the lives of Kristoffer and Geir, whose work is clearly derived from the MTV reality show starring Johnny Knoxville. Just like a real American, these two Norwegian males seem to have fallen into an interminable adolescence. After Geir jumps out of a five-story window, American rock music(in the alternative vein) accompanies Kristoffer's escape from the TV station's security-men. Those dropped tapes lead to their "Jackass"-inspired antics being aired to public acclaim, an endorsement of American's worst excesses, which makes jackasses out of the Norwegian people. Although Kristoffer is essentially the same "Charlie's Angels" t-shirt-wearing layabout he was before the split, Elisabeth returns to him, despite the fact that's he's getting his money for nothing; despite the fact of being a real jackass when he betrays Geir by airing his personal life to the viewing public.
While shooting a group of kids kicking around a soccer ball, Kristoffer finds Geir's kid among the assembling bodies. The stuntman can longer hold back the years. When Kristoffer points his camera towards Geir on some high scaffolding, we realize that his daredevil work is an act of fatalism, not bravery, or rather, post-bravery that stems from having a death wish. While the sequence of this drama unravels, Kristoffer expressed his own maturity through film-making. This time, Geir's derring-do has a context, unlike previous stunts that revealed nothing about this secret father except his own apparent stupidity. Context is what Kristoffer needed, too. Henriette(Pia Tjelta) gives the filmmaker context, whom he freezes on his display panel. Adulthood transformed Kristoffer's aesthetics, now it'll transform his life.
Grilled by another talk show host about how Kristoffer's films continue to exploit a mentally-disturbed man, the talk show host defends himself by insisting that Stig Inge is an actor. To help ward off further criticism, the friendly introvert consents to a live appearance, and predictably, he freezes in front of the camera. Although "Buddy" lays the blame on Kristoffer for bamboozling the producer and host, it's hard to believe that people in the television industry would care one way or another if Stig Inge was an actor or not. It's all about ratings, not ethics. "Buddy" wants to show that Norwegian television is more ethical than American television, so it makes Kristoffer the scapegoat when Stig Inge melts down. To calm his subject down, the filmmaker becomes a friend, and sings a soccer fight song to relieve Stig Inge of all the attention. In this moment, Kristoffer comes full circle; he's a different man from that other guy who filmed his subject outside the grocery store, unable to pick up a soda can that rolled past his safety zone.
Kristoffer loses his show, and just in time. He can't be a jackass for the rest of his life.