Hrubeš a Mareš jsou kamarádi do deště

Boredom in Brno laissait déjà à désirer, mais cette fois-ci, Morávek a vraiment dépassé les bornes. (20/02/2008)

Vladimír Morávek has taken up the standard trend of Czech cinema, i.e., the tragicomic dissection of human fates, for the second time. While Boredom in Brno had a good theme (loss of virginity), in this film, together with co-writer Jan Budař, they cruelly overdid it. For the first twenty minutes, the relationship between two mentally simple individuals using humorous lines like "You're a dick!" more or less works, but halfway through the film, the reality show criticism falls apart for Morávek. The plot then stagnates, and those individuals who can endure the boredom are treated to an impressive ending in a Prague crematorium, but even that is somewhat insufficient. There are no further breakthroughs in the history of film, but rather a sad confirmation of the established rule that nothing other than films like this can be made in the Czech Republic at the moment. The crisis of Czech cinema in full swing! (31/07/2006)

There is something wrong with a two-hour film where the first two minutes are the best. Humour is expressed through the overuse of the word "dick" or stupid dialogues that repeat the punchline just to be sure, and there are many situations that border the embarrassing. I understand the idea Budař and Morávek wanted to convey, but why they do it in such a tired, unfunny and, given the disproportionate runtime, tedious way is a mystery to me. Morávek is no directorial luminary, his sources of inspiration are, in his words, the "Czech New Wave of the 1960s", but his work is far from it. The first half hour, the masturbation in the grandfather's uniform, Zagorová and the very end lift the film at least a little from the deep mire of mediocrity. (31/07/2006)