The 101-Year-Old Man Who Skipped Out on the Bill and Disappeared (2016) User Reviews

An Swedish Forrest Gump

[xlars · 7/10 · 26 August 2017]

Not quite «Millennium» - and yet quite Swedish. The humor is quite home-knit, but parts of it are quite excellent, and the style is clearly Forrest Gumpy in flavor. However, it would be fair to say that something like that could never, ever happen outside of Scandinavia - if at all.

The films about the 100 year old Allan Karlsson who skips his home for elderly people and runs away with 50 million Swedish kroner (6 mill dollars) and then spends it all in a year - before going back to Sweden to get some more, unknowingly that he has it with him all along, is the kind of fun that never explodes, but makes you chatter slowly through it all.

Just like Forrest Gump.

Rumors (at least) says a remake is on the way, with Will Ferrell in the main part. Can't quite see how this will be Americanized, though.

Wacky Swedish Comedy

[crumpytv · 6/10 · 17 December 2021]

Following on from the first film this is equally absurd and bizarre.

Good performances again, but the monkey steals it.

Shame about the potty-mouthed Brit.

The 101-Year-Old Man review

[JoeytheBrit · 7/10 · 20 April 2020]

A centenarian and his pal search for the formula to an addictive Soviet soda pop which became the focus of US-Soviet negotiations in the 1970s but has since been forgotten. I haven't seen the film to which this is a sequel, but as sequels go this is pretty good. The busy plot embraces a fairly large cast of eccentric individuals who are all given their time in the spotlight, but it centres around Swedish comedian Robert Gustafsson who gives a delightfully understated performance despite the repeated efforts of Crystal the monkey to steal the movie from him.

The 70's party scene.... ?

[poof911 · 7/10 · 5 July 2018]

Not as funny as the 1st one but good nonetheless. You probably should watch them back to back to be familiar with all the characters following Allan.

Question for others that have seen this - Who do you think all the people in the 70's party scene were? The one with Amanda & Herbert Einstein? David Bowie, Andy Warhol, Timothy Leary? Any others?

100 year old grandpa is back

[DogePelis2015 · 7/10 · 26 April 2021]

It's a fun sequel that lives up to its predecessor; the plot is good and the characters are charismatic; I recommend it.

little fun Swiddish movie ...

[Sherparsa · 7/10 · 8 June 2019]

A nice parody of the mostly stupid Cold War era espionage fables of the 1960s and 1970s with certain other famous non-politically related personae and events of the time ridiculed here and there throughout the movie ... didn't feel like i wasted my time watching it in the end ...

never thought the Swede would make comedy movies like this too as i've been familiar with the great (and somewhat dark) works of Ingmar Bergman more than anyone else from that country ... (he has some comedies too though!) :-)

Insignificant Significance

[iquine · 8/10 · 1 November 2017]

(Flash Review)

Allan is a year older and still alive and kicking. This is another zany adventure for the old man as he tries to locate the long lost recipe to a 1970's, addictively tasty, Russian soda. A recipe created by accident and later used as a significant way to potentially trumpet and increase Russia's global standing through pop culture means. During the 70's, spies from Russia and the US tried to secure the recipe for themselves with a back and forth of possession. Fast forward to modern time and a new urgency to find the recipe takes hold for financial gain. Will Allan be able to remember where he hid it before other rag-tag groups find it first? Throughout the film small decisions and accidental events have ripple effects on a grand scale as the hunt is afoot. This is a very amusing and wacky comedy with fun scenes, locations, colors, characters and dialog. This is very similar to the first film and for me just as entertaining.

A rather tepid and unfunny follow up of a funny film farce

[OJT · 5/10 · 3 January 2017]

I really enjoyed the Jonas Jonasson novel "The Centenarian Who Climbed Out the Window and Vanished" as well as the following film "The Hundred Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared".

The film was both as fun as the book, was a big success both in native Sweden as well as in the rest of the world.

The plot is: A year has gone, and the money is spent, when an old bottle of a Russian soft drink makes a stir, because it so good. Already here we lose the interest, and the film is all about a gang of old people, a gang of hoodlums, a Russian daughter and CIA with the Swedish police are all after this soft drink recipe.

Well, to make a long story short, this is just like the first an unlikely black comedy in style of Forrest Gump, though darker and way more stupid, and filled with more stupid humans. Other films it's in class with here would be "Fargo", "One night at McCools", "Seven psychopaths" a.s.o. This film, however, hasn't got a book as a basic script, and this is quite obvious. The film tries to be funny, but simply isn't.

Where the first film three years ago was a good farce, which gave many laughs and the two hours went like one, this is just tepid and feels like it never ends. The audience in the theater only laughed twice in the two hours.

Still there are some great things. The make up is even more brilliant than in the first film, and way better than we've seen in Hollywood films (!). Amazing, once more. Robert Gustafsson, playing Allan, is just 52, but here he looks perfect as 101 years old man. (Well, maybe he looks a young 101, but still it's quite passable.)

Some of the CGI isn't very good, though. Especially the explosions and fires are bad, but it doesn't hurt the story, since it's far from believable anyway. The famous persons portrayed are also quite good.

What annoys extremely again, just as in the first, is the music, which really is Balkan circus music. Extremely annoying! This is the worst bit of the movie.

A pity that a great comedy has got such a lousy follow up.

A strange 101 year old takes us on an adventure

[HumanLifeMovie · 8/10 · 7 January 2017]

We get to once more see Robert in the lead role, this time the old man has turned 101-years-old. The story starts at a luxury resort in some exotic place. In storage they find some old beverage in the old man's stuff. They share the beverage and it's the best beverage ever invented. Of course there is a very strange story behind this beverage and how it came to exist. After they have the only soda, the other's want more of it, but the old man doesn't have the formula, he believes it is in Berlin. He says it's said that he has the formula, he thinks it might be in Berlin, so of course they set off to Berlin in a haste. They skip the hotel's invoice at the hotel by luring their way through it all, as always. This starts a hilarious journey with three bad guys that don't care about the rules. They smuggle apes and so on. We also get a lesson in how the cold war works in an allegory of soda. You will understand when you see the film. They make fiction out of history, which is a good way to not upset either Russians or Americans, but still give a pretty good view of how the cold war worked. This old man is really a bad guy, he does whatever, plays both sides so to speak, he is neutral, he works with Swedes, Russians and Americans as a spy. That also makes him connected all over the world. It is a very funny movie and me and my friend laughed all the way through the whole movie. I think it is overall a funny movie. They talk Russian, Swedish, English and who knows what else? I happen to think it was worth seeing. You get to see different places and cultures.

Wonderful, funny, thoughtful, absurd

[steinberger-00911 · 10/10 · 28 April 2017]

Violence was never so funny, and so ridiculous. A great cure for worries of all kinds. The take on the cold war is charming. Perhaps it is too intellectual for some American viewers. I like also the multi-lingual dialogue. I had more fun watching this, and the original 100 year old man..., than I have had watching anything else I can remember.

Hilarious, loved it!

[nitabahtiri · 10/10 · 4 July 2018]

I laughed so much as some scenes that I realized a few movies in the past have made me lol as much as this movie. Living in Sweden and being familiar with how swedes behave made this movie even funnier to me. 10/10

A Sparkling Comedy, never flat! Perhaps even more tasty than Swedish Meatballs!

[donniegreenfix · 10/10 · 9 May 2017]

After watching this movie, I was so entertained and so impressed, I was planning on only watching Swedish film from here on out. Then I found here the Swedish critic that offers an alternate review in English and was very bummed to read, that in his opinion Swedish film sucks... but this one was OK. I had been hoping that in style, class and content this movie was reflective of an entire nation's movies. That somewhere, was a treasure trove of similar flicks, just waiting for me to enjoy! To me it made perfect sense. You see I'm already a big fan of those heavenly meatballs topped with that creamy gravy and then those sneaky Swedish devils complete this culinary masterpiece with their sweet tangy lingonberry sauce, it hardly matters they then sprinkle parsley on everything. I mean they could sprinkle a crushed half smoked cigar on it and it still would be absolutely delectable. Pardon me, I digress. I'm almost tempted to exclude another reason I'm indebted to Sweden. If you've ever wanted to interior design on a budget, yet have it look like you cleaned out one of Trump's accounts, listen up- First you do need to buy a few high end pieces and make sure they're centrally located, that they catch the eye. Then you rent an extra large Uhaul and head down to Ikea. Fill that truck up with everything else you need and I mean everything because that's exactly what they have. Then get ready for your formerly nice friends to be green with envy. You see, one of the reasons they liked you is they THOUGHT that they had more money than you. The fact that they do can be a little secret, just between you and Sweden!Back to the movie- That critics opinion is not going to persuade me to not find out for myself. Especially when were talking about this writer, director and film crew! Big BRAVO and great job! For me, this movie had everything, I was so thoroughly engrossed, enthralled, entertained, OK already you get it! I loved it because it touched on nearly all of my personal interests/loves; History, an exotic beach vacation, learning/observing other cultures, travel (especially when not trapped/jammed together with other tourists but rather with locals that are not trying to sell you something), my favorite animal is... you guessed right- a monkey! I also am very interested in aging gracefully and have a great desire to experience fun adventures when elderly- this flick subconsciously gives me hope while informing of the fact it's a choice as evidenced by the younger folk stuck in the elderly home/hospital. I knew the lead actor was not really 101 on some levels (I hope!) but had a mental checklist going; OK, he's got his faculties, he's walking very well, nice job getting through the window! So when I learned the fine actor with great makeup was only 52 I was somewhat disappointed. I love time travel, "Time travel movies" you ask? "Yeah sure, some but even more the concept and fantasizing about what it was like back in time". While this movie did not feature a time machine, some of my favorite scenes were the flashbacks, especially the party in Berlin and the Nixon scenes. Such a great job of seamlessly incorporating the fictional movie into factual history! Finally I really enjoy this brand of humor. A critical critic said the movie was a black comedy in the same class as "Fargo". While "Fargo" is on my short list of favorite movies, I'm not a certified movie buff. Is this the right term? Black?

So, that said, I haven't yet figured out why I look forward to a repeat and some deep Thoughts to why I love this movie so much. Additionally I just wish I wasn't so lost during the cold war part as the user reviewer "steinberger 00911" on 4/09/2017 so insightfully pointed out. Why is this? My parents are both from Europe and the majority of us here are of European descent. Please help me man!

Amazing sequel to amazing film.

[Kdosda_Hegen · 9/10 · 19 July 2020]

The first film was a Forrest Gump wanna-be and it succeeded very well. The sequel is exacly the same, but a new story this time. It brings almost all the characters and same actors from previous film which add a lot of nostalgia. The filmmaking and style are exacly the same of this film, the pacing, jokes, everything's same but different. If you loved original this is a must watch.

Wacky film with some great laughs

[ianhmcdevitt · 8/10 · 22 February 2020]

A good story line with some crazy laughs in it. I want to see the first one now.