Toilet Stories (2014) User Reviews

Has something going for it

[kosmasp · 5/10 · 10 January 2016]

Right at the start we get introduced to a couple of people and their character traits. This obviously being a comedy, those traits are being made fun of. There is dark and brutal stuff coming up and some might be a bit too much for some viewers to stomach, even if it is not too explicit in its depiction of violence.

Overall the acting is decent and the movie has a nice pace. It just never touched a nerve with me, especially because the movie floats along in a certain pace, that does not contribute or help what it tries to achieve. It's done well and I'm curious to see if the mind behind this will come up with more stuff (better written and drawn out perhaps), but this right here is a good effort overall

Not bad enough to be flushed down, but not really good either

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 6 August 2017]

"Toilet Stories" or "Toilets" is a German movie from 2014, so two more years only until it has its 5th anniversary. This one runs for 1.5 hours and was written and directed by Christian Prettin and Sören Hüper. This duo collaborated on several other projects as well, but this is probably their most known work. And as the title tells, this is not just one, but in fact several stories in one overall. Some of these stories were decent, others not so much. It all comes down to subjective preference here what you will like and what you will dislike from these individual plots. It is not told in a way that one story finishes when the next begins, but it is intermittently. The cast does not really include any well-known names as even I as a German film buff have not heard of anybody here except Dorkas Kiefer and Fassbinder regular Rudolf Waldemar Brem, who also gives the best performance (rip, one of his final turns) from the cast in my opinion. The cast is maybe the biggest problems here I am afraid. Some of the actors simply weren't any good and I think here we have one of the rare occasions when the script is actually better than the performers, so I wouldn't blame Prettin and Hüper too much. This could have been a better film that also could have become more popular, but it went a lot under the radar and still does to this day I guess. Some good ideas included here, but a lot of the execution was relatively shoddy. Not wanna generalize though, some of the actors were also fine. Again, it is all subjective and from this perspective I have to give the film a thumbs-down. Not recommended.

Dark Comedy about German Virtues

[MatthewOLWay · 10/10 · 27 August 2014]

Intelligent, dark critique of contemporary German culture - all of the episodes take place in different toilets in an all-out medley of meanness and with an ensemble of young and old, established and unestablished. A low-budget shoot - nonetheless with a very professional look, refined screenplay sensibilities and subtleties of humor that remain lodged in one's throat long after having seen the picture - how low can these Ur-Germanic characters sink? Low enough for example to rip off an old woman and her dying husband? Low enough to screw your husband just for money? Low enough to mock the national anthem for egotistical gain? Yes, yes and once again yes. All facets of German culture are approached - and all with lovely disdain. If you're interested in German independents, definitely check it out.

Brilliantly written, seriously gripping...

[OneSentenceReview · 9/10 · 24 September 2021]

...surprising, unpredictable and very (very) funny as well - definetely won't dissapoint of you give it a go; depending on your sense of humour of course, as 2 other reviewers didn't like it. But be reassured, it's high level humour, not "toilet humour".

Seriously, the script,story, casting, acting is so good that I'll now go anf look if there is more of Sören Hüper and Christian Prettin!

PS: I watched it in the original german version with subs.