"Die unabsichtliche Entführung der Frau Elfriede Ott" or "The Unintentional Kidnapping of Mrs. Elfriede Ott" is an Austrian German-language movie that runs for 110 minutes roughly and premiered back in 2010, so it's not that recent of a film anymore. Still it is one of the more recent works by director Andreas Prochaska and he is also among the writing quartet who worked on the script here. It is probably also among his more known works, even if not as famous as his darker (horror) works. As for this one here, the long title already suggests that it is all about the comedy here. Austrian actress Elfriede Ott, around the age of 85 when this was made, came back from retirement to play herself in this film and she already acted in the late 1940s. She plays herself in a retirement facility and there she gets abducted in a series of unfortunate events. The premise is actually pretty hilarious, but eventually I was not too convinced. The thriller/drama component that goes with the abduction is missing completely, but that's not a problem I think if the comedy had been delivered in a refreshing and funny way. But I did not like it and for a film that is closer to 120 minutes than to 90 minutes, it just wasn't enough in terms of funny scenes. And apart from the quantity, the quality isn't convincing either. The film has quite a few lengths and the plot and the minor twists aren't enough for such a long-running movie. The performances were fairly mediocre overall too and I don't really think the film deserves any of the awards attention it received. Shocking to see this was picked as the best Austrian movie of the year back then? Seriously? I can't second that at all either. Same can be said about the relatively high rating here on IMDb either. I feel as if this film used several scenes and parts from American, more known films that focus on the abduction of characters that may or may not be dead with the intention to get financial profit from that. So yeah it's been done before and frequently better. Do not watch.
