MA 2412 - Die Staatsdiener (2003)

User Rating:

4.1/10   

Director:

Harald Sicheritz

Writers:

Alfred Dorfer (writer)
Roland Düringer (writer)

Release Date:

25 December 2003 (Austria)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Last Part of the Austrian Sit-Com MA 2412 is this feature-film. It deals with the behaviour of civil servants through different epochs (e.g. stone age, roman empire). |

Cast

Alfred Dorfer	...	Herr Weber
Roland Düringer	...	Ingenieur Breitfuß
Monica Weinzettl	...	Frau Knackal
Wolfgang Böck	...	Obersenatsrat
Karl Ferdinand Kratzl	...	Herr Claus
Barbara Stöckl	...	Gameshowmoderatorin
Peter Fröhlich	...	Vater Breitfuß
Reinhard Nowak
Hans-Michael Rehberg
Andrea Händler
Evelyn Engleder	...	Frau Obersenatsrat
Erwin Steinhauer
Fritz Muliar
Wolfgang Pissecker
Erika Mottl

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

Austria

Language:

German

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Filming Locations:

Brussels, Belgium

Company:

MR Filmproduktion

Movie Connections:

Follows "MA 2412" (1998)

Surprisingly entertaining!

After "Ein echter Wiener geht nicht unter" and "Kottan ermittelt" "MA 2412" is the latest of the typically Austrian ORF comedy-series. The story about a fictional, unbelievably useless "department for Christmas decoration", a masterpiece of Austrian bureaucracy, has become quite a hit in TV and has now been brought to screen.

Instead of stretching a typical episode to 90 minutes Duringer and Dorfer decided to do a fake-documentary about the history of the "MA 2412" told in different sub-plots. The result is surprisingly entertaining. The jokes are well-timed and the actors seem to be comfortable with their roles. I felt like watching the movie-version of a typical Dueringer/Dorfer stand-up comedy which felt very refreshing.

Having heard all the negative opinions before I don't know whether I really like this movie or if I just heavily disagree with the overly negative reviews... The only thing I know for sure is that this is my favourite Dueringer movie so far.

Dueringer (and Dorfer, of course) are excellent stand-up comedians. But most times stand-up comedy was brought from stage to the screen in Austria it became something different. Often quite tragic pseudo-philosophical dramas with not much more humor in it than the in-between laughter in your average psycho-thriller. I remember seeing Dueringer's original "Hinterholz 8" stand-up comedy program, laughing so hard that I almost fell from my chair. When I then saw the movie based on it I didn't recognize it at all. Of course there was the basic story line but many things that were jokes in the original "Hinterholz 8" became very serious, almost depressing scenes in the movie. Dueringer's anger and frustration felt so real that I sometimes thought he wasn't just acting. It was a very sad movie and it opened my eyes to the disability of Austrian directors to make bright and fun movies. Almost every movie from Austria today has a very dark and unpleasant feel to it. Not that movies like that can't be of a good quality but I feel like it's totally taking over in the last few years.

"MA 2412 - Die Staatsdiener" certainly isn't a cineastic masterpiece but it had a lightness to it that reminded me of good, Austrian stand-up comedy that often is about very unpleasant things but makes us laugh about it at the same time. It's a step into the right direction.

7/10