"Opa wird Papa", which means vaguely "Grandfather becomes a father", is a German television film from 2018, so actually not too old compared to many other films that are shown regularly on the small screen here in Germany. It runs for slightly under 1.5 hours as they usually do and was directed by Markus Herling (certainly not his only Oma/Opa movie) and written by Silke Steiner. The latter is not prolific at all looking at her body of work, but there are still some really bad films included there. Herling is more prolific, also in all kinds of other filmmaking areas and not only in direction, but he has his fair share of low-quality projects included as well. So the expectations for this film should be really low. And even if they are, then the actual outcome is probably even lower. This was not a good film by any means. It is as mess as the cast list here. You need to scroll down a bit to find the name of actor Ernst Stötzner, who plays the main character here. And Christina Große, who is the only one coming slightly close to being a co-lead here, is also only credited as fifth. Not correct compared to the actual closing credits at the end of the movie. Yep, indeed I sat through it until the very end. I always do, but if I didn't, then with this one here, I certainly would have switched it off earlier. Even for a television film, the cast is really unspectacular. Maybe you will recognize at least the faces of those two I already mentioned, but even these are no big stars and the rest of the cast is almost unknown entirely. This also includes Guntbert (interesting name) Warns, who I mistook for a brother of Herbert Grönemeyer. The resemblance is clearly striking. As for Stötzner, I felt a bit sorry for him because he is a better actor than what he had to work with here for sure. Then again, nobody forced him to accept a role in this stupid movie. He plays the title character, well both title characters if you want to say so. And even there they messed up because it is hardly correct. His child is born around the same time as his daughter's child, so even if there is a period in which he may be grandfather to somebody, there is just a minimal span during which he becomes a grandpa and not is a grandpa. Difficult to explain in English, but this shows basically already that attention to detail is no strength of this movie.
Now I will elaborate on indivicual scenes and plot inclusions that made no sense to me or at least did not feel realistic or deliver any creative quality. This applies basically to all key struggles we have here, most of all the one between Stötzner's character and his wife. The arguments, especially the one at the restaurant, felt staged and never authentic. Already because of how they were written. Not even the most talented actors could have made them work. By the way Stötzner was in his mid-60s when this film was made and it seems clear that they at least made his character five years younger through make-up, clothes etc. Same is true about Große. Her character is in her early 40s, while the actress was older and not just one or two years. By the way, how did they not even use birth control. Unreal stuff to see that two people really established in life are dumb enough to have unprotected sex. This is something I'd expect from 16-year-old, but really this issue needs to be adressed here because it is also really an inclusion at the center of the story how it all unfolded. So there you already see that the film sucks at its very core. This is also true when it comes to the relationships between the man and his children. There is conflict about the son's role at work, who would prefer his dad to reduce his influence. This story was poorly executed. Conflict all for the sake of it. Same is true with the daughter. It seemed there they completely ran out of ideas what to do with her, so they just made her pregnant at the same time and eventually create a conflict because her father took the last day-care center slot for his son and of course her child is the one who misses out because she also wanted to get it there, but (grand)daddy made a donation and now his kid got the approval. Completely unrealistic. They were even living in a big city. Pseudo conflict at its worst that it is exactly his daughter's child that is concerned. And no words on the escalation at the baptism ceremony, also involving Große's character eventually. By the way, it is pretty cringeworthy how she, on at least one occasion, is depicted in the least creative manner possible as a strong independent woman who does not need her man to help her, but wants him to help her just like it should be in such a relationship. I guess they had to handle it like that and depict Stötzner's character as a fool because picking a male character at the center of the story will already take away many female audiences, so at least the had to make sure his partner it the more competent, more caring, more likable because films like this are mostly seen by women. I guess those women also find certain scenes appealing, scenes like the one with the really handsome young guy at the table and maybe they wish they were Große's character in that scenario and somebody tells them her husband must be a really lucky guy. Of there was one moment when you really realized this is an abysmal film quality-wise, then it's the one in which the hot underwear slips out of the box. Sigh. Another would be when the protagonist has this webcam chat with his employees and we see he is wearing underpants only. If you find that funny.. In my opinion, they messed up in every department, also in comedy. Okay, I think that should be enough now. This movie is really really bad and you should skip it at any cost. Highly not recommended and I hope I can forget about it as soon as possible.
Now I will elaborate on indivicual scenes and plot inclusions that made no sense to me or at least did not feel realistic or deliver any creative quality. This applies basically to all key struggles we have here, most of all the one between Stötzner's character and his wife. The arguments, especially the one at the restaurant, felt staged and never authentic. Already because of how they were written. Not even the most talented actors could have made them work. By the way Stötzner was in his mid-60s when this film was made and it seems clear that they at least made his character five years younger through make-up, clothes etc. Same is true about Große. Her character is in her early 40s, while the actress was older and not just one or two years. By the way, how did they not even use birth control. Unreal stuff to see that two people really established in life are dumb enough to have unprotected sex. This is something I'd expect from 16-year-old, but really this issue needs to be adressed here because it is also really an inclusion at the center of the story how it all unfolded. So there you already see that the film sucks at its very core. This is also true when it comes to the relationships between the man and his children. There is conflict about the son's role at work, who would prefer his dad to reduce his influence. This story was poorly executed. Conflict all for the sake of it. Same is true with the daughter. It seemed there they completely ran out of ideas what to do with her, so they just made her pregnant at the same time and eventually create a conflict because her father took the last day-care center slot for his son and of course her child is the one who misses out because she also wanted to get it there, but (grand)daddy made a donation and now his kid got the approval. Completely unrealistic. They were even living in a big city. Pseudo conflict at its worst that it is exactly his daughter's child that is concerned. And no words on the escalation at the baptism ceremony, also involving Große's character eventually. By the way, it is pretty cringeworthy how she, on at least one occasion, is depicted in the least creative manner possible as a strong independent woman who does not need her man to help her, but wants him to help her just like it should be in such a relationship. I guess they had to handle it like that and depict Stötzner's character as a fool because picking a male character at the center of the story will already take away many female audiences, so at least the had to make sure his partner it the more competent, more caring, more likable because films like this are mostly seen by women. I guess those women also find certain scenes appealing, scenes like the one with the really handsome young guy at the table and maybe they wish they were Große's character in that scenario and somebody tells them her husband must be a really lucky guy. Of there was one moment when you really realized this is an abysmal film quality-wise, then it's the one in which the hot underwear slips out of the box. Sigh. Another would be when the protagonist has this webcam chat with his employees and we see he is wearing underpants only. If you find that funny.. In my opinion, they messed up in every department, also in comedy. Okay, I think that should be enough now. This movie is really really bad and you should skip it at any cost. Highly not recommended and I hope I can forget about it as soon as possible.
