Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"Offroad" is a German movie from 2012, so this one had its 5th anniversary this year. The writer and director is Elmar Fischer and this 90-minute movie (without credits) is certainly a contender for being his most known work. This mostly has to do with the fact that the two central characters are played by Nora Tschirner and Elyas M'Barek, two of Germany's biggest stars right now both nationally and internationally. Hands down, everybody knows these two now here in Germany. As for Tschirner, she has starred in films next to Schweiger, Schweighöfer, Ulmen and other big names from Germany, so no surprise really that she also has a film where she appears next to FJG actor M'Barek. Or I should say he appears next to her and Tschirner's character is clearly in the center of it all. I used to like her somehow for a long time, but the more I see with Tschirner, the more she has a tendency of becoming just a female Schweighöfer and everybody who has seen movies with this genuinely untalented actor, knows that this is not a compliment by any means.Anyway, this movie here is about a young woman who seems to be nicely in control of her personal and professional life, but things change drastically when she finds her boyfriend cheating and also questions her life and decisions therein in general. When she finally ends up in charge of a car full with cocaine, it all turns into no-holds-barred. But sadly this cannot be said about the plot and script here. It was as disappointing as uninspired as most German comedy films are. Or I should perhaps not say comedy films as this one here is a mix of comedy, drama, romance, crime, road movie, action... and in the title of my review, you can already see what I think of that. It was disappointing, very disappointing because they throw in one scene and genre after the other while failing to elaborate properly in any of these fields. Such a disappointment. The central character's ex-boyfriends pretty much sums up the film perfectly and how they take the easy way out in entertaining the audiences while failing completely in terms of authenticity and quality character writing. He is a weakling (door scene) and a sexist and racist (comments about women and immigrants near the end). Sorry Mr. Fischer, this way you are not cutting the cake. Of course the stupid audience members will not even think of the fact that Tschirner's character was with him together and planned to marry a man like that. Oh well, of course she is still oh so smart and likable and yet flawed in a charming way isn't she? Bubblegum filmmaking of the worst kind. Stay away. Four stars out of 10 is still pretty generous for this film because it is really horrible at times and never a convincing product by any means. I guess that's why it's relatively famous here in Germany still half a decade after its release.
