Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"CIS: Chaoten im Sondereinsatz" is a German television film from 2010 and these 85 minutes are among the most known works by director Erik Haffner as well as his three writers. If you come from Germany and take a look at the cast here, then you will certainly see many many names from the German television landscape that are more known than the people who made this film. But many of them aren't necessarily actors, also if you look at the key players like singer Sasha, comedian Martina Hill or entertainer Dieter Thomas Heck. This is also why the result barely resembles a movie. To me, it really felt more like a sketch comedy packed with plays on words and honestly some of the jokes weren't that bad, actually many even. Of course, some stuff did not turn out as funny as they wanted it to, but that's also subjective of course and was made up by the fact that the film absolutely never took itself seriously. This also cost the film a bit though when it comes to the romance and crime aspects in here and I would say the focus is so much on comedy that I wouldn't even say any other genre is accurate for the film. I see the film was not received very well apparently looking at the rating, but I somewhat liked it, especially in the first half. I guess those who disliked it are the same that believe cast members Hill and Schubert are actually good on the garbage Heute Show. Back to this film here: It was only weak and disappointing when it tried to move forward with the crime plot. It's maybe a slightly weaker version of the famous Wixxer films starring Kalkofe and Pastewka. Oh yeah, finally it needs to be said that this is really just for German-speaking audiences as a great deal of the comedy would definitely be lost in translation. And it also helps if you are familiar with German television because otherwise the references about Rach, Kallwass etc. will not make any impact at all. But if these two factors apply to you, then I suggest watching these slightly under 1.5 hours. I give them a thumbs-up.
