Peculiarities of the National Fishing (1998)
General Ivolgin, forester Kuzmich, and good-natured Lyova lose their way on a fishing trip and wind up in a neighboring country, where they decide to have a good time anyway but end up leaving their vodka and fishing equipment behind.
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Overrated
I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.
The cast of the first film are re-united in this comedy caper, and they actually do catch at least one fish between the drinking and the hangovers. Some of the jokes might go over your head and you even need some history to understand one of them.I keep reading that this series of films will not be understood by Americans and that good comedy is funny in any language. That simply is not true and I believe that many 'Friends' or 'Frasier' fans from ANY part of the world will not get even a fraction of the humour when they watch this in their native language. My tip:- if you watch a dubbed or subtitled version of this and do not find it too funny, become Reivo, buy a ticket to Russia or the Ukraine, make some friends and live the film and when you come back to your own world look around and tell me which you can identify with more. You might like it and the experience will put a whole new slant on things you have found un-funny. You probably did not think much of Fawlty Towers either. The only thing from America that comes close would be MASH.
This movie is not for americans. They won't understand it. But everybody else will just love it. I think this is the best one of the "Osobennosti natsionalnoj ..." films.
This is simple, cheerful, selfcritical and very very funny movie. Maybe it will be hard and boring for Western viewers but that's their problem. They can always get back the days of Groucho Marx and Jerry Lewis and refresh their memory of some fine comedies. I think one could find some similarities.
Just like its predecessor "Osobennosti Nazionalnoi Okhoty," this movie has this "it's too Russian for the outsiders to understand"-vibe going on. Not that it's a lot of fun to watch even if you are Russian. With exception of a few funny gags that are based on Russian drunkyard humor (which, indeed, is probably too Russian for the outsiders to understand; then again, if you think you can get it - give it a try), there is nothing the movie has to offer. The only exception is interesting rumination by Buldakov's character about the role and influence of vodka in Russian life and national character. If this sounds intriguing to you - watch the movie, if not - forget it.