Round Da Way

Take the student sense of humor, immigrant slang, rap, the punk sneer of the Sex Pistols (and for good measure, add half of Johnny Rotten's ass), the stonedness of The Big Lebowski, pop culture jokes from The Simpsons, the hopelessness of panel housing estates, black Driss from The Intouchables, deliberately unpleasant drawings reminiscent of a combination of Andersson's book "Container," shake it up, mix it all together, and you'll get something remotely similar to Round Da Way from this Molotov cocktail. This animated comedy about two slackers from the suburbs who dream of fame in the music business, sex, and a nice warm vacation is not serious, politically correct, and certainly not for everyone. But if you embrace its rules (sorry, anarchy), there’s a good chance you'll be royally entertained. The passionate dance of the police station staff with batons in hand, singing about how handcuffs boost their self-confidence or the rap song of repentant sinners at the very end will easily convince you that the five-star rating scale is sometimes unnecessarily limiting. And there's something else I appreciate. Round Da Way isn't a "hardcore" film, it doesn't go to extremes despite its exasperation. It's like a lively Bart Simpson going through puberty, who you know has a good heart, and in the end, it will (probably) pleasantly surprise you. Overall impression: 95%. (26.11.2013)