Abbuzze! The Badesalz Movie - Special 20th Anniversary Edition - DVD

Content: One Friday evening, insurance agent Erich (Henni Nachtsheim) gets stuck in the freight elevator of a run-down high-rise apartment building. But Erich is not alone. Still in the elevator with him is the strange Richard (Gerd Knebel). Erich hopes to get out of here quickly and start a relaxing weekend. But instead, this is just the beginning of a truly surreal experience.

This is the frame story of the comedy Abbuzze! by the Hessian comedy duo Badesalz. After the Germany-wide success of their albums Nicht ohne meinen Papa and Diwodaso and the series Och Joh, Gerd Knebel and Henni Nachtsheim also brought their very special humour to the cinema in 1996. After all, 718,000 viewers wanted to see the film, which after twenty years enjoys absolute cult status among fans. Loosely held together by the frame story, the cinema film also consists of many short sketches that are quirky, politically incorrect, Hessian-bad or simply bizarre. There are two supermarket cashiers who accuse a pregnant woman of shoplifting, the piercing Hubert and the mad cow disease, Killer and Buddy who discuss in the gym what they have to do before the swimming pools open in May or a submarine captain who saves his team from drowning with wisdom about the Eintracht. There's a reunion with cult figures Headbanger and Richie, who deliver their very own interpretation of Schöner wohnen. Or even a vain movie star who literally makes movies non-stop.

The humor of Badesalz is really very special. Although they were able to inspire a large audience outside of Hesse in the 90s, Henni Nachtsheim and Gerd Knebel have not succumbed to the temptation to make their gags more suitable for the masses and to rely on more well-behaved, straightforward jokes. On the contrary, in their feature film they go one better, presenting the whole thing in a rather dirty, not exactly appealing grungy look that doesn't exactly correspond to what moviegoers were used to from German comedy fare in the 90s. Even if the big success has therefore failed and there was no further theatrical film, the film works even after 20 years for fans really good precisely because the duo has remained true to its style.

Surely, there are some gags that just don't want to ignite. The whole frame story is also not the great strength of the film. But there are enough sketches that still have to be called simply brilliant. Sure, it's complete nonsense when the warehouse of a supermarket suddenly transforms into a delivery room - but you have to come up with such an absurd idea first. If you don't like the humor of Badesalz, you'll probably scratch your head and wonder what's funny about it. But if you love the Hessian cult duo, Abbuzze! is and remains a must - and then the DVD or Blu-ray of the film should not be missing in the home cinema collection. Recommendable!

Picture + Sound: The new DVD edition presents the film in decent picture quality. Smudges or image distortions are kept to a minimum thanks to the new digital scanning, although the inherently dirty look of the film is further intensified by some blurring. The audio is present in both a new DTS 5.1 mix, as well as a Dolby Digital 5.1 and a Dolby Digital 2.0 mix. All of the audio tracks are dominated by dialogue, but on the DTS 5.1 mix, the music and some sound effects make their presence felt more positively and powerfully than on the other audio tracks. Overall, for a 20 year old film, a clear: Good!

Extras: Off the bonus offerings goes an audio commentary recorded by director Roland Willaert to mark the 10th anniversary of the film. The commentary definitely has some very interesting information to offer about the making of the film, so it's absolutely worth a listen.

Continues with a Making of (approx. 23:29 min.) worth seeing, an interview with Badesalz on the set of the film (approx. 6:41 min.), as well as four removed scenes (approx. 13:41 min.), which also include an alternative ending. Also included are the teaser, the trailer for the film, a TV featurette (approx. 6:13 min.) and a photo gallery. So fans of the duo will get their money's worth!

Conclusion: Abbuzze! is whimsical, maladjusted, dirty and bitterly wicked. Badesalz didn't play it safe with their feature film by making their humor suitable for the masses. Rather, they made their very own humor even weirder. That's why the film may not have been a big blockbuster, but it's still a cult hit with fans 20 years later! The new DVD presents the film in decent picture and sound quality and also has many good extras on board. Badesalz fans who do not yet own the film, should definitely grab it!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp