These excellent actors and the very entertaining characters they play deserved a better script than this one. Not that the script is quite bad or anything, but the plot relies heavily, too much in fact, on plot-devices such as chance meetings and the comedy of misunderstanding. As a result, we have here too many exaggerated situations that make this sequel less realistic than the first part, which was more based in reality hence funnier and more engaging. Exaggerated comedy is often a way to avoid having to write a clever script.
The majority of the coincidental meetings were thrown in just to forcibly spoil the romance between Ljubisa and Milena, a romance that realistically should have no reason to flail – which is why the writer decided to throw a wedge into their relationship by any cheesy means necessary, just to force "comedic conflict". The first such case, when they bump into one another in the hotel, lacks logic because it turns out that Samardzic might be a shady character who on purpose omits to mention to Neda that he's already engaged, and even accepts her flirtation without a whole lot of hesitation, like some horny alpha-male – which he never was in the first movie. I have to say, this isn't good writing. The intention of this segment was to have the audience see a misunderstanding between the two love-birds, i.e. that Milena wrongly understood the situation of the half-naked running through the corridor i.e. Ljubisa is supposed to be a victim of circumstance and bad luck. He is supposed to be innocent, but considering that his behavior leading up to the corridor scene was not all that kosher, it becomes unclear even whether the viewer is supposed to root for the romance to resume. Are we supposed to hope the two make up and resume their relationship? At this point in the film, Milena's character was clean, Ljubisa's was stained (which is a mistake) hence we're lead to think more along the lines that he doesn't deserve her.
And all of this just because the writer wanted a "funny" sit-com moment which would advance the plot. Well, maybe it does advance the plot, and maybe some people find the hotel scene funny, but it contradicts what we already know (or thought we knew) about Ljubisa's morality. He is supposed to be a lovable "loser", not a calculating cheat.
However, Milena's clean-slate character is also – unwisely - put into question by fault of the weak script. At the end of the movie, Milena runs out of her building, chasing Ljubisa – and the way this was written leads us to think that the only reason she ran after him was because her ex-husband Dvornik had betrayed her trust yet again. In other words, Ljubisa is sort of like the "spare wheel" for her, merely plan B. Yet, we already know from the first movie that neither Milena nor Ljubisa are sleazy, devious opportunists but that they're honest people with integrity, who love each other genuinely. The story was written in such a way as to not respect character consistency. You can't just write a sequel to a comedy that was largely character-driven and then re-shape the characters at will. During the writing process, the story took precedence over the characters, which is the false - and perhaps lazy - approach in a comedy of this type.
Some gags aren't (that) good simply because the film almost slips into absurdity and farce even. For example, when Voja Brajovic splits his travel group into hotels according to sex, which is so unrealistic that it isn't funny. Voja's character is absurd i.e. badly written. But at least Ljubisa's flat-mates and family are still basically the same, which is why a lot of the funnier stuff revolves around them.
A more down-to-Earth script should have been written, with funny dialogue rather than not-so-funny situations. If nothing else, the characters and the acting crew are so strong that they managed to make something fairly entertaining even out of a weak script. I like the fact that Kojo speaks and behaves fairly normally for his age, rather than dish out beyond-his-years wisdom – an annoying cliché which many script-writers like to do with kids often, something that is especially found in weak American movies in which most kids are written as some sort of smart-Alec geniuses. On the other hand, it's unrealistic that Kojo plays a younger kid than he was at the time. Almost all of his playground buddies are smaller than him, and seem to be 2-3 years younger; at least that's the impression I get.
The majority of the coincidental meetings were thrown in just to forcibly spoil the romance between Ljubisa and Milena, a romance that realistically should have no reason to flail – which is why the writer decided to throw a wedge into their relationship by any cheesy means necessary, just to force "comedic conflict". The first such case, when they bump into one another in the hotel, lacks logic because it turns out that Samardzic might be a shady character who on purpose omits to mention to Neda that he's already engaged, and even accepts her flirtation without a whole lot of hesitation, like some horny alpha-male – which he never was in the first movie. I have to say, this isn't good writing. The intention of this segment was to have the audience see a misunderstanding between the two love-birds, i.e. that Milena wrongly understood the situation of the half-naked running through the corridor i.e. Ljubisa is supposed to be a victim of circumstance and bad luck. He is supposed to be innocent, but considering that his behavior leading up to the corridor scene was not all that kosher, it becomes unclear even whether the viewer is supposed to root for the romance to resume. Are we supposed to hope the two make up and resume their relationship? At this point in the film, Milena's character was clean, Ljubisa's was stained (which is a mistake) hence we're lead to think more along the lines that he doesn't deserve her.
And all of this just because the writer wanted a "funny" sit-com moment which would advance the plot. Well, maybe it does advance the plot, and maybe some people find the hotel scene funny, but it contradicts what we already know (or thought we knew) about Ljubisa's morality. He is supposed to be a lovable "loser", not a calculating cheat.
However, Milena's clean-slate character is also – unwisely - put into question by fault of the weak script. At the end of the movie, Milena runs out of her building, chasing Ljubisa – and the way this was written leads us to think that the only reason she ran after him was because her ex-husband Dvornik had betrayed her trust yet again. In other words, Ljubisa is sort of like the "spare wheel" for her, merely plan B. Yet, we already know from the first movie that neither Milena nor Ljubisa are sleazy, devious opportunists but that they're honest people with integrity, who love each other genuinely. The story was written in such a way as to not respect character consistency. You can't just write a sequel to a comedy that was largely character-driven and then re-shape the characters at will. During the writing process, the story took precedence over the characters, which is the false - and perhaps lazy - approach in a comedy of this type.
Some gags aren't (that) good simply because the film almost slips into absurdity and farce even. For example, when Voja Brajovic splits his travel group into hotels according to sex, which is so unrealistic that it isn't funny. Voja's character is absurd i.e. badly written. But at least Ljubisa's flat-mates and family are still basically the same, which is why a lot of the funnier stuff revolves around them.
A more down-to-Earth script should have been written, with funny dialogue rather than not-so-funny situations. If nothing else, the characters and the acting crew are so strong that they managed to make something fairly entertaining even out of a weak script. I like the fact that Kojo speaks and behaves fairly normally for his age, rather than dish out beyond-his-years wisdom – an annoying cliché which many script-writers like to do with kids often, something that is especially found in weak American movies in which most kids are written as some sort of smart-Alec geniuses. On the other hand, it's unrealistic that Kojo plays a younger kid than he was at the time. Almost all of his playground buddies are smaller than him, and seem to be 2-3 years younger; at least that's the impression I get.
