Zettl (2012) User Reviews

Fails in hitting the right notes

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 22 August 2017]

"Zettl" is a German 110-minute movie from 2012, so this one has its 5th anniversary this year. It is the very last work of his life and career by director Helmut Dietl and he is also the one who adapted the original work by Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre, a relatively well-known writer who was the next big thing here in Germany for a while.And when Dietl calls, they all show up which is why you will see a gigantic amount of big name actors from Germany in these slightly under 2 hours. Even Harald Schmidt reprises his Late Show character from a long time earlier. But the fact that only one cast member is listed with awards reception here and that one also got 90% of it for another film is very telling in terms of the quality here. Dietl may have been way past his peak already at that point sadly. He is known as a filmmaker who had a tendency to depict the richer part of the German society in many of his films, what you may want to call the high society and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. And it is undeniable that Dietl has a talent when it comes to combining character studies with comedy. The big problem in this film, however, is that he really shamelessly goes over the top throughout the entire film from start to finish. Add to that the several really unrealistic plot twists and the characters that just stopped feeling authentic at some point. It's not a bad foundation overall I would say, but what they made of it is simply a gigantic mess. There was really only one moment that somewhat touched me, namely seeing George's character dead towards the end, but this had to do just with the actor's real dead not too long ago and not with the movie. Apart from that, it did become once again pretty obvious to me that Bully Herbig is not lead actor material in anything that isn't 100% fun and comedy like his new Bullyparade movie for example. The film as a whole is also way too absurd to make any interesting critical statement about society. Dietl was just letting loose and the outcome is very disappointing. Not a good way to say goodbye. I give the film a thumbs-down. Not recommended.

Bunch of top actors without a story

[ebaldig · 1/10 · 23 July 2021]

Generally I like most of the actors, but I did not get into this. Many scenes have no connection or sense. Where is this going to? What is the film trying to gain? The script is a disaster.

All actors don't reach their heights.

Waste in all terms.

Paper (thin)

[kosmasp · 6/10 · 26 November 2012]

Humor is a tough business/thing. You can't please everybody. And this movie right here goes extremely silly in many cases, which seems to have alienated a lot of the main protagonists fans. His fan base should be used to the brand humor, but it seems many did expect something different from this outing.

I don't think the movie is nearly as bad as many have made it or anywhere as bad as it was received financially. There's quite a lot of good jokes in this, but again they obviously didn't work with the big crowd. I had other issues, especially with Michael Herbig. He doesn't seem able to shake off his TV past. It still seems from time to time that he tries to look into the camera. Still if that's the only criticism you have of course, that shouldn't block your viewing pleasure. Especially because he surrounded himself with a great cast. Not his best effort, but way better than you might expect