Laughs a minute found in Swedish comedy.
Scandinavians are weird. They look different, they eat differently and the act differently. Perhaps this is the reason why countries like Sweden are always among the most desirable places in the world to live in. Film director Josef Fares spews up one of the funniest inoffensive comedies this year with Kopps the follow up to his 1999 film Jalla! Jalla! which made him a household name. With a simple, down to earth story about a foursome of Swedish meatballs in blue uniforms with nothing to do except think about their next meal we get to watch the troops resort to boosting the crime statistics in their friendly town, the outcome is that the film elevates itself into one off-the-wall comedic situation after another. Fares uses the additional mix of odd Nordic behaviors and some nifty on-occasion use of funny CGI which makes for a funny little number about the absurdity found in normalcy. What is especially refreshing is that the film doesn’t have to resort to toilette humor, with the exception of one laugh-out sequence; it is the two leads that cause the riot. Benny (Torkel Petersson) lives inside his machine gun action world and gangsta language lingo while the protagonist Jakob (Fares Fares) who is unlucky in love has this really funny ritual about honking the car horn after each exit. The first sequence really sets the tone of the picture with a hard reality of blind dating scenario and just makes it easier to laugh the rest of the way. With a short runtime this film gets right to the point unwraps the package and even gives us a few surprises along the way, but unfortunately Kopps has trouble holding the momentum until the last half hour. This shouldn’t deter anyone who wants a good laugh from checking out this parody, which has been optioned by Adam Sandler for a possible U.S remake. What makes the film work are the characters and even the little dogs, perhaps the wild goose-chase sequences go overboard but then an overturned garbage has never made anyone laugh so hard. With a little humanity and simplicity this picture goes a long way.
