Otto`s Eleven

Otto Waalkes is a clever fellow: after he could celebrate two times with his "Sieben Zwergen" big successes, he has simply thought, he just takes a few more helpers on board and trump so even stronger at the box office. So instead of 7 actors - models and dogs included - 11 are now fooling around in "Otto`s Eleven" - and that is unfortunately not always really funny.

In the very loosely based on "Ocean`s Eleven" Klamauk lives the passionate mudflat painter Otto (Otto Waalkes) together with his best friends Mike (Mirco Nontschew), Oskar (Max Giermann), Artur (Arnd Schimkat) and Pit (Rick Kavanian) on the small sleepy island Spiegeleiland. In order to finally attract a few tourists to the island, its five sole inhabitants shoot a promotional video for the Internet. This attracts the attention of the sleazy casino owner Jean Du Merzac (Sky du Mont), who discovers a painting on the video that he, as a passionate art collector, simply must have. And indeed, with a ruse, he manages to steal the painting from Otto, which has been in his family for generations. Since the mudflat painter is visibly suffering from the loss, his friends decide to help him steal the painting back. So it's off to the mainland and into Du Merzac's casino. But to get to the vault where the painting is kept, the five islanders will need more allies and a cunning plan...

Maybe "Otto`s Eleven" is quite funny to children who have little or no previous knowledge of Otto, and perhaps to adults who have lived under a rock for the last twenty years. But those who have known the jokes of the East Frisian for some time will be bitterly disappointed here. Because the film is almost exclusively pure gag recycling and leaves really new ideas painfully missing. Sure, you could argue now that Otto gives his fans exactly what they expect from him. But there's a big difference between simply staying true to your style and delivering similar material over and over again, and rehashing the exact same gags over and over again.

While Waalkes certainly has a lot of new ideas that shine through from time to time. But somehow he and his director Sven Unterwaldt seem to lack the courage to bring something really new. Also Otto's colleagues are hardly allowed to show variations of their skills. Max Giermann, for example, is forced to completely overdo his actually great Stefan Raab parody, Rick Kavanian isn't allowed to do much more than speak a few funny dialects, and Mirco Nontschew is reduced to a wildly grimacing noisemaker. Yes, it's funny at times, of course, because all of these comedians are talented. But it would have been just nice if they had been allowed to show more of it.

About the acting talent of "Topmodels"-winner Sara Nuru shall simply be silent at this point. Rather, a few positive moments should be mentioned. Olli Dittrich's performance as Harry Hirsch and a resulting "Spiegel"-scene with Otto is, even if not really new, really successful and also the visit to "Tantchen" has a few amusing moments. Overall, the film also has a certain, almost naive charm that makes Otto somehow endearing even after all these years.

So in the end, "Otto`s Eleven" is definitely recommendable for kids and fans who can laugh at the same jokes over and over again after all these years. But if you are looking for a really funny and in some ways original movie, you will be bitterly disappointed!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp