Not a successful parody, not a creative individual achievement either

Horst_In_Translation

"Otto's Eleven" is a German movie from 2010, so this one is also already way over five years old. It runs for 90 minutes roughly and was written and directed by Sven Unterwaldt Jr., the man who worked together with Otto Waalkes on several occasions. Waalkes also contributed to the script and the entire movie here is of course a bit of a spoof of the famous "Ocean's Eleven". I don't think I have seen that one, so I will not go any further in detail about parallels and differences, but if you know what this is based on, that's probably enough anyway. Otoo and his buddies live on an island and a wealthy guy comes to steal a painting that is very dear to Otto. And he succeeds with this stealing. Until then, the film is still pretty decent, but sadly that's not even the first half hour. Afterward, Otto and his buddies leave the island to get the painting back and the longer the story goes, the more boring and dragging it gets. This makes me a bit sad as I always found Otto pretty likable and I also like several of the supporting actors here, like Giermann, Dittrich and also DuMont, who gives actually one of very few really entertaining performances. If you take a look at the cast list, you will immediately recognize that there are many comedians in this one and while they may have comedic talent, I am not sure if they have range in terms of acting talent. This is probably one of the main reasons why several of the 11 were written in a way that their performances almost look like a collection of sketches, like Giermann's Raab impersonation for example. There is a funny scene here and there, but honestly in terms of quantity the really entertaining moments are only enough for a 45-minute film and not for something twice this runtime. And I also wonder what Arnd Schimkat was doing in here as he is neither a successful comedian nor an established actor, like Schwiers for example and it would explain her presence next to these German models. Anyway, this is not a good achievement overall in terms of acting, comedy or entertainment in general looking at the script. And while I said there are funny moments, I must also say that there are several unfunny moments that were intended funny and this really hurts the film. This movie here can certainly be considered an important chapter in Otto's downfall in recent years that resulted in his participation in "Kartoffelsalat", even if the latter is way worse again of course. I like him and I also like some of his older films that not too many appreciated. I hope that he can turn things round once again. Finally, I wish I could at least recommend this film to people who like any of the actors in here, but even I as a huge Olli Dittrich fan saw almost nothing appealing in the film or his performance and the whole "getting back the painting" plot was just way too flat for over an hour. Not recommended.

score 4/10

Horst_In_Translation 11 January 2017

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3617390/