Jerry Cotton - DVD

Film: Since 1954, more than 100 authors have made an FBI agent an absolute cult in 2700 novels and 400 paperbacks: Jerry Cotton! A Europe-wide circulation of a total of one billion makes "Jerry Cotton" the most successful German-language crime novel series of all time. In the 1960s, the popular agent was then also allowed to make the cinemas unsafe in a total of eight films, embodied by the American George Nader. In 2010, 42 years after the last "Jerry Cotton" film, the "Neues vom Wixxer" makers Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stennert brought their entertaining reinterpretation of the classic crime hero to cinemas, which is now also available on DVD and Blu-Ray.

For Jerry Cotton (Christian Tramitz), things are not going particularly well: first he gets a new partner in the form of the inexperienced Phil Decker (Christian Ulmen), and then someone tries to frame him for the murders of his ex-partner Ted Conroy and gangster boss Sammy Serrano (Moritz Bleibtreu). Of all people, Jerry's former partner Daryl D. Zanuck (Christiane Paul) is assigned to the case and turns the entire FBI against Jerry. Only Phil Decker still sticks by the New York agent, who tries to put a stop to the real masterminds behind the murders with the help of the beautiful as well as mysterious Malena (Monica Cruz).

The 2010 remake of "Jerry Cotton" is not meant to be a parody, but an endearing homage in the form of a traditional buddy action comedy. As such, the film works very well in places. The staging is flawless in terms of craftsmanship and can fully convince especially in visual terms. Since only a few exterior shots were filmed directly in New York, the makers had to transform locations in Berlin and Hamburg believably into the American metropolis. And they succeeded really well.

Not only the attention to detail is positive to the film, but also that the actors were with obvious joy in the thing. Especially Moritz Bleibtreu in his short appearance as gangster boss Sammy Serrano and the hardly recognizable Heino Ferch under his mask can please with their good-humored performances. With all these positive aspects, one would think that points of criticism shouldn't really matter. But unfortunately, the film leaves a rather ambivalent impression, which stems from the fact that the mixture of classic crime thriller and yet sometimes quite klamaukartig turned out humor does not always work well.

While the action sequences are staged with impeccable craftsmanship, some of the gags come across as very bumpy. Especially main actor Christian Tramitz remains amazingly pale and is played by his co-stars, especially by Christian Ulmen, again and again easily to the wall. "Jerry Cotton" seems a bit indecisive at the end and thus loses a lot of its potential entertainment value. While still fun enough overall to justify watching, the work falls far short of its potential. Therefore, the following holds true: a nice, top-notch movie fun directed with a lot of attention to the original and the details, which could have been a lot more and therefore disappoints a bit in the end. Nevertheless, still worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: Since the final product was not yet available for testing, no judgment can be made here about the Bildä and sound quality.

Extras: Also the extras were not included on the press DVD. Announced for the purchase DVD are an audio commentary by the directors, the two leads and the producer, a making of the filming, a making of the digital effects, cut scenes, outtakes, interviews, a set video diary, an appearance by the two leads on the Oliver Pocher Show, a music video from OCEANA, trailers and cast info. Sounds like a lush bonus package.

Conclusion: "Jerry Cotton" is a crafted and convincingly staged homage to the crime classic, which can score in terms of action, but disappoints a little with the not always accurate gags. On DVD, the crime comedy can please primarily with a successful bonus package. Recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp