Norwegian writer/director Martin Lund won many kudos for this off center comedy about the pangs of growing into adulthood. The film is difficult to label – it is not a comedy per se; it is more of an examination of the process of retardation when approaching the role of an adult and to that end the cast is exemplary in portraying that lost generation married to computers and cellphones and tablets and texting etc that they have not learned how to become responsible for their own lives and those of their families and loved ones.
35-year-old Henrik (Henrik Rafaelsen) is attempting to establish himself in a new responsible job (yes, IT type), lives with a pregnant girlfriend Tone (Janne Heltberg) in a new apartment and still parties with his high school buddies. But he has some rather childish ways of behaving (all of his friends share that degree of foolish nerdism) and Henrik must make the growth spurt that will make him a father instead of a perpetual teenager. The process is called maturing and Henrik is just beginning to experience that realm.
Henrik Rafaelsen has found that plane of innocence stirred with silliness and immaturity while he discovers the consequences of his childish behavior (in one scene he is sitting in a car reading Peter Pan and urinates, full frontal, on the book). There is a lot of horsing around in the gym, full frontal nudity and bizarre behavior among his buddies, and while that sort of 'fun' has its place in a sequestered gym, when it progresses to parties where behavior is not controlled by commonsense self discipline then things happen that result in Henrik's having to explain to Tone.
The film could be simply longwinded boredom were it not for the performances of the main characters. They invite us in and allow us to join them in the transformation toward adulthood. For that reason the film is really quite fine – it just takes patience and understanding.
