Lammbock (2001)

Stefan and Kai have good going business, self-grown cannabis screened as pizza delivering service. For now they only have to deal with aphids.

Director:

Christian Zübert

Writer:

Christian Zübert

Stars:

Lucas Gregorowicz, Moritz Bleibtreu, Marie Zielcke

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lucas Gregorowicz	...	Stefan Becker
Moritz Bleibtreu	...	Kai
Marie Zielcke	...	Laura Becker
Julian Weigend	...	Achim
Elmar Wepper	...	Vater Becker
Alexandra Schalaudek	...	Gina
Christof Wackernagel	...	Ausbilder Walter
Antoine Monot Jr.	...	Schöngeist
Wotan Wilke Möhring	...	Frank
Nils Brunkhorst	...	Dopex
Alexandra Neldel	...	Jenny
Christoph Künzler	...	Jäger
Peter Fieseler	...	Tim
Thomas Schendel	...	Dr. Kollmann
Anya Hoffmann	...	Elena Kollmann

Storyline

German louts Stefan and Kai run a pizzeria, but it's mainly a front for their more lucrative self-grown cannabis trade, allowing them to deliver at home. When the plants get sick, the dealers bring in pest control expert Achim, but that changes everything.

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Plot Keywords:

law student | marijuana | reference to erika eleniak | pizza delivery | drug dealer | 

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Taglines:

Der Film mit Breitenwirkung!

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

23 August 2001 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Allô pizza

Filming Locations:

Bergisches Land, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$543,376 (Germany), 31 August 2001

Company Credits

Production Co:

Arte France, Little Shark Entertainment GmbH, Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The characters Frank and Schöngeist were modeled after Jay & Silent Bob from Kevin Smith's movies.

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Connections

References Pulp Fiction (1994)

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Soundtracks

I Don't Wanna Know
Performed by Muki

User Reviews

Great stoner-comedy even though it has some uneven moments

Stefan (Gregorowicz) and Kai (Bleibtreu) are best buddies who run a rundown little Pizzeria named "Lammbock". However, rather than Italian delicacies, the customers tend to order their home-grown Marihuana, which is hidden under a leaf of salami. While Kai is your typical Stoner, content to smoke until the end of his life, Stefan comes from a more rigid, upper-class background and tends to worry about his examinations to become a lawyer (and getting caught smoking by his stern father (Wepper). Other than that, the duo is concerned only with their marijuana-plantation in the woods, getting stoned, playing video-games, getting stoned, talking trash, partying with their friends-slash-customers and, well, getting more stoned. Trouble arrives when. Trouble arrives when their plants are infected with parasites and they seek aid from smooth-talking Achim (Weigend), who just happens to be a young, ambitious underground-cop.

Let me say first of all: I'm not the biggest fans of many of the actors in "Lammbock". Especially Bleibtreu, who for a while was hyped as movie-star and Wotan Wilke Möhring, later hyped as protagonists in crime- and action-films have a rather limited acting-range, examples that almost anybody can learn how to function a piano but many will never become master-musicians. However, for their roles in "Lammbock" they fit like fists in gloves.

The movie often has a very witty dialog and incredibly funny scenes, that makes it sorta a German mix between "Dazed and Confused" and "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas". To mention a few highlights would be Möhrings performance as stoner suffering from Tourette's syndrome (making ever second word from his mouth an unintentional obscenity), a scene where Gregorowicz is forced to swallow some highly potent hashish and then attend a formal dinner with his father's colleagues or a policeman (himself a pothead) who lectures future underground-cops.

There are some uneven, even unnecessary subplots and plot lines, especially those involving Stefans little sister Laura (Zielcke), her Aids-test, a potential liaison with Kai and of course the infamous "unintentional incest"-scene, which go nowhere and add nothing to the movie but time. But those moments are few and far between and take nothing from the overall quality. What separates "Lammbock" from many similar-themed films – say, for example, the Jay & Silent Bob or Cheech and Chong flicks – is, that "Lammbock" is rarely over the top or some overblown parody and shows the protagonist as people easily can relate to, be they friends of this kind of horticulture or not. It's not like in the mentioned Cheech / Chong films, where you simply know that the duo will escape while smoking the largest joint since Bob Marleys last birthday party, but rather, it keeps the viewer rooting for our "heroes", even fevering along with them (especially in the last quarter of the movie).

Word of warning though: some of the dialogs will make little sense if you're not familiar with the German background in which the topics take place and if you've never been out with your buddies, smoking the "hooch", well, you might not get the point in the first place.

Other than that, I'd call it one of the best (if not the best) stoner-comedies produced in Germany (where possession generally carries a hefty fine, possibly jail, social discrimination, etc, etc).

7/10