Lapland Odyssey 2

It's been three years since the events of the first film and our "lovable" main character, Janne (Jussi Vatanen ), has managed to procreate with his long-suffering partner, Inari (Pamela Tola). But then Janne's pals come calling and it'd be such a good night to let loose once again. Get blasted, drive around in your offensively loud car, perhaps even settle a score or two. But there's that annoyingly inconvenient offspring you're supposed to look after. Solution? Why not take her with you.

You know, I remember kind of liking the first film. Didn't hurt that it was directed by Dome Karukoski, but even taking that out of the equation, it had decent humour, some creative scenarios and the characters, while intentionally annoying and pathetic, had their redeeming qualities.

This film, on the other hand, is like a crude caricature of that first film. At first glance, it's eerily similar. But as soon as you dig deeper under the surface, you'll find nothing but ugliness.

Case in point, the stakes. The first movie was about preserving a relationship by questing for a TV adapter. It was humorous because they went to such great lengths for such a mundane object. In this film however, the stakes mean that you actively have to wonder whether or not a baby is going to survive the antics of her deadbeat father. And that's just... not okay. That's not funny.

Likewise I don't like the ending. I don't like what happens to Janne. Or more precisely, what does not happen to him. You're not supposed to get away with stuff like that.

And it's simply not funny. I'm not sure if I chuckled even once. Perhaps I smiled, but even of that I can't be certain.

A hard skip on this one. Although the film looks nice. Lapland in autumn is spectacular.