Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"Eine ganz heiße Nummer" is a German 90-minute movie from 5 years ago written by Andrea Sixt who adapted her own novel for the screen here. The director is Markus Goller. I applaud Sixt for her work here. Her script may be the main reason why this was a decent film that could have been a massive unfunny failure if the topic had not been handled properly. It is about a trio of supermarket employees who run into financial struggles and start their own phone sex hotline. Unluckily, for them they are living in a small, fairly religious German town, which causes problems pretty quickly. Unfortunately, the film tries occasionally to go into drama too, such as Schneeberger's character's speech at the end and this is where it does not work well. They should have gone 100% comedy in my opinion. Schneeberger plays her part very nicely, Thomass is solid too, even if she is not the greatest actress, but Mittendorfer was pretty bad at times and may have even less range than Thomass. This is certainly not a film that shines through its acting. It shines through its awkwardness and about the extremes clashing in here. Luckily the film did not take itself seriously for the most part, which is also why Sixt gets away with lack of realism for basically the entire film. This is not a good watch if you want to see something memorable that makes an impact. But it is a good watch if you want to go for something light and entertaining. I recommend "Eine ganz heiße Nummer". Certainly one of the best German comedies from 2011. Thumbs up.
