Long Live the Bonus Family (2022) User Reviews

... just should have ended it all whatever way during the final season

[bjarias · 5/10 · 18 August 2023]

... appears they formally ended the four season series series Bonus Family with a movie Long Live The Bonus Family... not a good movie, doesn't measure up to most any of the preceding four season productions

... lots of characters had been really annoying to viewers all along throughout the thirty-eight episodes of the regular series... now they've capped it all off with what could be the 'missing' two episodes of season four with this unnecessary-boring-annoying 107 minute film

... one critic describing it as "offering a whiny couple we can't help but detest as viewers. Neither is one able to root for the marriage, nor the individual counterparts involved in this exchange. Patrik and Lisa's characters emerge as a nuisance through it all" ... nuf-said.

Hit and miss from a good series to a not so good movie.

[johmil-18374 · 4/10 · 7 July 2023]

I review this in English even though it is a Swedish movie simply because if someone english speaking saw this with subtitles they can at least somehow get what they watched.

This is a continuation of the series bonusfamiljen. A series that was well acted and had a good manuscript. It was always kind of on the edge of what is to painful in life to have it as a comedy but it kept that line with perfect skill. It handled really heavy subjects like the male protagonists fathers deadly disease. To painful relationships fights and the feeling of life not matter anymore. But it is also in the pain you would find meaning and warmth and so on. It was true to our humanity.

This movie did not have this finger on the pulse that the series had. It was way to bleak. It was also kind of preachy in a strange way. But more so in the way that you should know when you should not stay in a relationship.

I have heard this many times from relationships expert on TV that to many couples stay to long together. This movies seem to have picked up on that. But they forget that the therapists have a stake in that. Is that not a way for them to cover their own ass when things go to hell as it probably does many times after couple therapy, making their effort impossible since it was doomed from the start? Sure it limit the use of couple therapy as well so it is kind of contra productive. But it is preachy and the series never was that.

This movie also have one of the character dying.. This only becomes bleak and looses everything of its former way of trying to find humanity. Therefor the low rating I assume.

Awful. Just awful.

[jswans-03756 · 1/10 · 22 August 2023]

I have been following this shkw for a few years now and it has become a real comfort to me. The acting is top notch, the writing is funny and genuine. The show fell off the rails in season 4 and the movie was the absolute worst thing I've ever seen. After everything these characters have been through, they're not going to end up together? Seriously? What was the point of the ENTIRE show? Everyone was so out of character in this movie, I felt like I wasted two hours of my life that I'll never get back. I wish I had never seen it. I hope the writers somehow fix this. What a tragic end to a phenomenal series.

Heartbreaking portray of every day ordinary life

[sarahkimberleyh · 9/10 · 7 February 2024]

I loved the TV series, and unlike most of the reviews, I loved the movie. It was very sad, when Patrik was crying in the car, and watching him grieve in the months that followed, it was heart breaking. But at the same time, it's life. Yes it's not a "love and light" hilarious comedy family movie, not at all. But it is honest. Life is messy. Many couples should break up and don't. The arguing and the way they just couldn't see each other, Patrik's over apologising, Lisa's narcissism, the total dysfunction of the whole family, it's not that uncommon. Finding a sense of myself within their mess was somehow comforting.

I had hoped for love and a happy ending for Patrik and Lisa, but I appreciated the realness that is accepting when it just doesn't work. It was tongue-in-cheek and awkward that Patrik started things back up with Elin at the end, but I think that was just the producers/writers having a laugh. I also appreciated that we got to see some of the character favourites (like William's maternal grandmother) at the boys birthday party.

Overall, the movie isn't neat and tidy, it doesn't give a perfect closure, it doesn't include all of the series characters, it doesn't try to be a "festive romantic comedy movie" and that's why it's special. Patrik gave his sweat, blood and tears to make bonus family life work. Reflecting back to the series, Eddie was struggling at school, they got pregnant for the second time, gosh, remember when the boys fell of the roof? Madness and mayhem, mostly on account of Lisa. She constantly lies to Patrik yet there is something fun and endearing about her. We understand why they love each other. Sad, bittersweet, honest, human, messy, real life. The actors did amazingly.

Really good with twists and turns

[debonator · 9/10 · 10 September 2023]

As an avid fan of the series, I was thrilled to see a movie with the beloved characters back in the US in 2023. This was a perfect way to give fans some closure to the series, answer lots of questions, and let people know how things ended. I thought the movie had lots of twists and turns and was very well written, it had a lot to cram into a little over an hour and a half so we didn't get to see much of some of our favorite characters but this was better than no ending to their story. This movie needed to be made if they were not going to do another season of the series. I would love to see another movie sequel to see what happened next! I suspect that like most humans, Lisa got jealous of Elin, she thought she was over Patrik and wanted him to start over with someone new as long as it wasn't the woman he cheated on her with. It sets up the whole stage for this new trajectory to unfold. Lisa is going to start developing feelings for Patrik again because someone else likes him. When he was controlling, or sullen, or nitpicking her she felt self conscious for being an air head, inconsiderate, or a liar - all of which her character is and which is why they were like oil and water, they were only good when they were an emulsion but as soon as they separated they had a hard time getting blended again. They have to be shaken up vigorously to blend. I think they have achieved that all throughout this movie. Laughed out loud too and a few scenes! I mean full volume LOL!