Oldboys (2009) - Steen, Halken and Co. win with lovable senior soccer dramedy

♥♥♥♥

 

'Forgotten, alone and more than 37 km away from home' reads the funny tagline on this poster for Nikolaj Steen's Oldboys

A Danish old-boys soccer team on their way to play a Swedish policemen team forget their goalkeeper Vagn at a gas station. He soon bands up with a Danish robber he happens upon, and together they head towards the match.

Oldboys is written and directed by debuting Nikolaj Steen (Minkavlerne (2019, TV-series)).

The script is full of weak points, (concerning a concussion, the 'forgetting Vagn' scene, igniting a car's engine etc..) Still I laughed copiously; the old men or boys and their coach (Rasmus Bjerg (Player (2013))) are fun, and Kristian Halken (Miss Viborg (2022)) is formidable as Vagn. Oldboys is formulaic and flawed but a lot of fun and with a lot of beneficial heart to it.

 

 

Watch a short clip from the film here

 

Cost: Uncertain; projected 5 mil. DKK or approximately 0.64 mil. $

Box office: Approximately 0.6 mil. $

= Huge flop (projected return of 0.93 times its cost)

[Oldboys was released 20 November (Denmark) and runs 95 minutes. It was supported with 3 mil. DKK by the Danish Film Institute. If made on a very slim 5 mil. DKK budget, the film would rank as a huge flop: It sold 56,820 tickets in its sole release country (Denmark) at a 83 DKK average prize at the time, coming to approximately 4.7 mil. DKK or 0.6 mil. $. The film won 2/7 Robert award nominations (Denmark's Oscar), among other honors. Steen has kept out of cinemas since, instead directing for TV. Halken returned in 4 short, TV and a voice credit prior to his theatrical return in A Funny Man/Dirch (2011); Robert Hansen (Vildbassen (1994)) in Bølle Bob - Alle Tiders Helt (2010). 1.3k+ IMDb users have given Oldboys a 6.6/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Oldboys?