Hai-Alarm am Müggelsee (2013) Reviews

• Friedrichshagen you old *****

  Horst_In_Translation2015-05-17

  The Müggelsee is one of Berlin's biggest lakes. Or I should probably not mention Berlin, but Friedrichshagen as the protagonists in this movie put such great emphasis on how Friedrichshagen is much cooler than Berlin. The film runs for roughly 100 minutes and could actually have been very cringeworthy if this was not a 100% comedy movie and nobody is taking themselves seriously and everything and everybody is over the stop already starting with the ridiculous idea of having a shark in a Berlin lake. The severed hand of Gwisdek's character very early already indicates the direction this film is gonna take. It was a bloody scene, but also funny somehow. I have to say I am not too great on Gwisdek (actually prefer his son), but he is bearable in this movie. Same goes for Benno Fürmann. The film always walks on the fine line between being funny and being ridiculous, but most of the time it's very positive. Haußmann and Regener reunite for this movie after "Herr Lehmann" and they also cast some of the actors Haußmann regularly works with such as Uwe Dag Berlin. Most of the cast here are actually Berlin-born actors. Anna-Maria Hirsch was a very positive surprise as this was her first movie role, even if she worked already with Haußmann on theater plays. Schilling and Gwisdek reunite here. They played together in the massive success "Oh Boy" the year before for which they both won German Film awards. Occasionally this movie reminded me of a Helge Schneider film. The humor is really random, like everything about Thalbach's character who is so funny in this film. Also most of the dialogs are. What people say and how other people react to it often doesn't make any sense at all. For me, the second half of the film was better than the first half. I watched this film back when it was released in theaters and now again for a second time and the second time was even better than the first. The film's music is pretty good too. Some really catchy tunes, especially the one in the title of my review ("Friedrichshagen, du alte Nutte"). Also this film is a prime example for a great movie trailer. They really included some of the best moments of the film in there, so you can decide very nicely on the trailer if this film is for you. I found it wonderful, especially the moment when the people from another lake call and also want shark alarm. The title is probably also a reference to the embarrassing "Hai-Alarm auf Mallorca". But Hai-Alarm am Müggelsee" is a pretty good 100 minutes and especially worth a watch for people who live in Berlin or have lived here at some point in the past. At the end, it says that a second film will come out soon, but this may also just have been a joke or another of many movie references included here. Very creative work with some great dialogs. Recommended

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• A little hit or miss, but still very funny

  saxyman3332013-12-08

  After I read about this film, I knew I had to see it. When I lived in Berlin, I actually spent a lot of time in Friedrichshagen (where most of the action in the movie takes place) so it was a bit nostalgic for me. I'm also a sucker for low-budget shark movies. Regardless of my reasons for seeing it, I thought it was overall funny and entertaining. This is pretty much strictly a comedy with no real shark action, so if you're looking for that, this isn't your movie. After doing a little research on the movie, I saw that the term "nonsense film" was getting thrown around a lot, and I think I have to agree with the use of this term. Almost everything about the movie is very far-fetched and nonsensical, but it also offers some good deadpan humor as well some funny slapstick moments. Not all of the jokes are winners though, and some tend to drag on for too long. Watching this in America may also pose a problem, as their are English subtitles (although not the greatest) but the DVD is only released in region 2. Also, I think you have to have lived in Germany (and better yet Berlin/Freidrichshagen) to appreciate some of the humor. Overall though, I found it to be very entertaining if you're looking for a goofy shark movie that doesn't take itself seriously at all.

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• "Shark Alarm at Mueggelsee Synopsis

  rightwingisevil2013-10-02

  Synopsis: "Friedrich Hagen at the beautiful Mueggelsee in Berlin has a problem: the bitten hand the lifeguard indicates that a security risk floats in water. Every effort is made to displace the problem, but sometime is not so funny: The shark alarm is declared! A devilish mixture of intrigue and anger, love and hate, power and city marketing developed a pressure under which the boiler Friedrichshagener civilization threatens to explode in an inferno of madness" I used Google Translate to translate this film's weird title into English, but the result also turned out to be weird and almost meaningless. Shark Alarm? Guess it was simply lost in translation.

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