User reviews

This wasn't a bad movie. The german setting gives it a different energy, it's well acted and the story is well told. The rise and fall of the main character plays on different levels of his life and this makes him a character you come to know and like. But the movie feels like a long episode of a TV show. Nothing wrong with that ofcourse, but therefor I agree with the 5.7 rating here on IMDb.

I was very satisfied by this agreeable German comedy drama flick, whi other users seem not to appreciate that much. I have Always craved for rise and fall schemes. here this is pretty well done for my taste. i Don't need that much more to be pleased. The mechanism of all those scams is interesting. The lead character's sidekick, reminds me Gene Hackman in the sixties; I would have imagined him playing this kind of role in a performance of his early career. maybe because the German actor wears the same kind of hat Hackman had in FRENCH CONNECTION. But the scene of the crooks asking an old an to sign documents for an apartment, is one of the highlights of this film; the Gene Hackman double present at the same table is laughable; who would trust an estate agent in company with such a man, looking so much like a crook? I would never answer him asking about the time...ha ha ha

A recommended German Wolf of Wallstreet clone

I enjoyed Rising High aka Betonrausch. It is a German mixture of comedy and drama. As far as I know the story is fictional, but it is presented as if it actually happened. It is the story of a young businessman who becomes very rich very quickly through fraud and deception and then very quickly loses everything again. It is reminiscent of The Wolf of Wall Street, without Betonrausch ever reaching the quality of the Hollywood blockbuster.

But nevertheless a very affordable German film. Germany is not known for their jokes and humor, but the understated light comic style works well for this film. Characters are explored just enough and the film never gets boring. And furthermore, all the glam from The Wolf of Wall Street is represented: fast cars, expensive tailor-made suits, large villas, wild parties and the necessary drugs. It is beautifully portrayed, with a good soundtrack. The acting is okay.

For fans of The Wolf of Wall Street quite a recommended film on Netflix. So a well deserved 7.

German movies have a certain flair and a certain flavor to them. There are some preconceived ideas too. Something like this tries eagerly to copy a formula that the US has really done well. The little man struggling but finding a way to rise to the top ... having issues with things he has done or the connections he has made over the years.

There are cliches being used and the story is quite predictable. Overall still a decent effort and enjoyable to a degree. Might not meet the criteria some have or expect from Netflix, but what can you do? It is what it is as Seinfeld might say (or many others for that matter)

It's a fictional story about real state scams that use very unrealistic strategies but it has some interesting aspects like psychological influence from the parents, family context, and leaps of faith in the business world. I believe it's a teaching on the mistakes made between business life and family life.

The main problem is not that this is a very obvious wanna-be Wolf of Wall Street (without any of its cleverness) or that neither real estate nor banks nor any of this works as shown here. No, the problem is that the film constantly tells us how convincing and charming the main character is without ever proving it in a believable way. The story just goes along with it but none of it works because the main character does not. The fact that it's supposedly based on a real story makes me think that the script took a lot of liberties with the actual story.

I noticed two different movie references that could possibly have inspired this plot, 'Catch Me If You Can' (2002) and 'The Big Short' (2015). Perhaps the only reference to 'The Wolf of Wall Street' (2013) happend after 1 hour and 8 minutes.

What is not to like about this film? I can't for the life of me understand the poor reviews. Yes, there is some exaggeration but the amount of things it manages to achieve in a mere 90 minutes is pure finesse and awe inspiring. Likeable protagonist, decent story, outstanding execution. I loved it. The energy is infectious and the music was amazing.

+ Music + Acting + 90 odd minutes of energy + Great viewing

It wasn't something special pretty generic but somehow it gave me good vibes. Ending sucked a lot, that's true but whole movie(despite ending) was enjoyable.

This film tries hard to be something it isn't - good. It is a cheap version of Wolf of Wall Street, with mediocre direction, one dimentional characters and mostly bad acting. The main character is supposed to be a charismatic, sly and goodlooking Leo DiCaprio type of guy, but doesn't deliver on that. And don't even get me started on the script and the cringeworthy dialogues. Subtlety isn't this film's strenght. But then again, not much is.

"Betonrausch" is a high-energy immersion into the world of real estate and financial greed, driven by a compelling performance from Frederick Lau, who lends charisma and intensity to the film. The story develops at a fast clip, in stylish form, keeping viewers on the edge while plowing through this ruthless landscape of property speculation and corruption. More than once, the feverishness of the film to present its subject matter from all sides allows for a scattershot approach at the cost of character development and emotional depth in the face of its frenetic plot. While Betonrausch delivers a lot of action and piercing comments on modern capitalism, the overestimation of the spectacular against the price of deeper storytelling leaves this movie somewhat superficial.

This movie reminded me of the days of Ponzi Schemes - you buy, sell, double the profits; But the difference here is that theirs was fraud. Imagine the millions of people around the world who currently live off Ill-gotten wealth made off the backs of struggling people, families, widows, widowers, orphans etc. This may just be a movie but it's scam is currently happening somewhere, someplace.

The costumes used are commendable as it suits the characters quite fairly and their roles, likewise the ambient lighting which created a more visual atmosphere and sets the mood for each scene.

My favorite scene was when Viktor and Gerry were sitted in the hall with the realtor alone doing the bidding for apartments. I cracked up so much.

It was a matter of thinking smart not working hard.

Favorite line was the father's phrase to him when he was a boy - "Whatever you do, do it well, do it best."

Viktor went ahead to do his best in fraud but he wasn't smart enough to hold it steady. His only prize was the diamond necklace and the family he never reunited with.

Let me start with a positive aspect of the movie. The notorious Till Schweiger isn't part of it. A german movie without him is always a big plus in my books. On the other hand however this is a genuinely bad movie. Just imagine Wolf of Wallstreet but in bad.

Very bad directing, horrible one dimensional characters and poor acting. The story is as thin as a single sheet of paper. It was actually tough to watch till the end.

I will call this quite original, in german movie standards, its all comes to the question of money, how to do it, how to boost it , who to play fraudulent games against, and at the same time keep up the appearances in love and life.

its a genial story, with a fast shifting plot, where the whole story are flashbacks to the past during an interview made in prison. the twists and the spontaniousity are fun, the main actors are cute and high quality acting, the score are as usual electronica the german style with some extreme rythm sections that catches the spiritual wibes in the film.

so if you like the silent kind of heist, or fraud or racketeering or whatever its called without a kill and a bloody gore, but a fun and ingenious money making caracter, then the grumpy old man can recommend.

The film is typically German and that in the most negative sense imaginable. The dialogues seem to be copy-pasted from the most uncreative, blandest German evening series. The story itself seems interesting, but is completely overshadowed by the bad script, where nothing fits together. The camera work falls far short of its possibilities and seems outdated, even though the film is supposed to be from 2020. Especially the contourless leading actor, who seems more like the quiet banker from the town bank counter shortly after his apprenticeship, is supposed to play a cunning, charismatic financial swindler. It seems as if Woody Allen should embody the Terminator. The rest of the characters are just as much based on German TV stereotypes that it hurts. Even the fact that of all people the only two justice officials who get beyond a mere extra role have a clear migration background feels like well-intentioned, badly implemented and therefore grandiosely failed, which can also be used as an overall verdict on the movie.

If you are thinking about watching this film: Don't do it. Watch Wolf of Wall Street for the 20th time. The quality of this film has nothing to do with recent German successes such as Dark or Babylon Berlin; A very bad relapse into the dark television times of 10 years ago.

Simple, one-dimensional story. No depth in the figures. I rated the movie with three just to show a kind of friendlyness for the fact that they at least tried to create something interesting. But I can not understand why Netflix is promoting such an RTL-II level. They should better had made a serial out of it and gave all the main characters more time to develop and the fraud more cleverness and double and triple levels. Such simple bribes and frauds as shown in this movie are so far from both reality and originalness. I really was on the edge of not watching until the end and I have to resume that the whole movie finally just was a waste of time.

Easy to see, not boring at all, no relation to the wolf of Wall Street, and not that expensive production like the wolf.

What is the point of this misfire? Poor cousin of much better American movies. One can almost point to sources scene by scene. For anybody remotely familiar with reslities of modern Germany painful to watch.

It was hard to watch it till the end. Unrealistic and unfunny german mixed copy of a few american films and series. Create something own guys!

The biggest trash I have seen in a long time. Pale characters and a predictable plot without inspiration.