Meine schöne Bescherung (2007) Online

We can't see anything. We are in a closet. Obviously we are not alone. A human arm, a piece of a face, heavy breathing. What - for heavens sake - is this? Cut. The closet from the outside. It's a big old fashioned wardrobe, suitcases and trunks on top of it. The wardrobe is being pushed hardly from the inside, the trunks are shaking. We are hearing a background music medley of cheerful bright jubilating Christmas carols. At the fortissimo point the doors of the closet spring open – and the wardrobe spits out a merry human couple – a man and his wife. Both are landing - still in a hug- on the carpet of a sleeping room.

This could be the beginning of a tasteless low brow plot which would give us a pain in the neck. The opposite is the case. Meine schoene Bescherung is a rejoicing brilliant firework of points, gags and astonishing twists and turns of an amusing story line performed by a powerful ensemble of divergent characters. It's a plea for living in community and companionship – and it's a pleading for the satisfaction we can take advantage of, if we dare to decide for a living with our children.

Heino Ferch and Martina Gedeck at their best.

If it wasn't for Jasmin Tabatabai's brooding glamour and Alexandra Neldel's pushed-up boobs, I would have walked out mid-movie. "Meine schöne Bescherung" is noisy, hysterical and utterly pointless. Everything is exaggerated to the point of ridicule and empty mannerism. What little charm there is (Santa gone bad, patchwork promiscuity, precocious youngsters), we have seen a million times before, and with more panache. The cliché extends even to the movie's cast; half the usual suspects of contemporary German cinema are there. "Meine schöne Bescherung" has "made for TV" written all over it, but I can't for the life of me figure out who this might appeal to. A couple of years ago director Vanessa Jopp said in an interview it was her dream to "make people wiser". Dream on.

"Meine schöne Bescherung" is a German 90-minute movie from 2007, so this one will have its 10th anniversary next year. It was directed by Vanessa Jopp and the screenplay comes from a trio of writers. The cast includes a couple famous names, especially if you have an interest in German cinema and Martina Gedeck is even known abroad to some extent. I will not talk about the other actors, you can check the cast list if you want to know about them, but many of them are prolific and successful. The story here is a woman invites all her ex-husbands (and fathers of her children) for Christmas where she plans to announce that she is pregnant again, with Ferch's character allegedly being the dad. Too bad the latter has decided he wants no more children and not old his wife that he got rid off his ability to make children. So who is the daddy? One of the previous men? Or somebody else altogether? Watch for yourself.

Apart from this core development, there are side stories about unfaithfulness, neglected feelings, what the kids think of all this, cheating and even homosexuality. In my opinion this comedy movie with minor dramatic aspects tried to deliver in too many areas for its own good and I also must say I personally did not find the comedy too funny. Yes the actors in here are quite known, but the likes of Ferch have rarely shown great range or have really disappeared in character. But the main reason here is the mediocre script. The interactions rarely felt interesting and the film ends on a really low note when all the previous struggles apparently won't matter anymore and everybody is sitting together in harmony again to celebrate Christmas. this final shot makes basically everything that happened before look completely pointless and this film is a perfect example of how realism is sacrificed for a completely ridiculous feel-good happy ending. The entire screenplay is a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth. There are a handful fine moments, but it's not enough. I don't recommend the watch. Thumbs down.