Humørkort-stativ-sælgerens Søn (2002) - Danish laughs in small-scope relationship comedy

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Naughty hijinks with popular stars seems to be the promise from this poster for Peter Bay's Humørkort-stativ-sælgerens Søn

A Copenhagen publishing house editor is under pressure from his broody girlfriend, meanwhile he gets a new Swedish boss, who wants him to cut ties with his poet friend, alcoholic Jack.

 

Humørkort-stativ-sælgerens Søn is written by Mads Brenøe (Surferne Kommer (1998)), Dunja Gry Jensen (Terribly Happy/Frygtelig Lykkelig (2008)) and co-writer/director Peter Bay (Fede Tider (1996)). The original Danish title translates to, 'the humor card mount salesman's son'.

Hella Joof (Normalerweize (2004-11)) walks determinedly into a very funny role here, which exposes some of the strategies of modern women in relationships, and Thomas Bo Larsen (The Hunt/Jagten (2012)) is good as an atypical, modern pushover man with an ugly haircut. Philip Zandén (Micke & Veronica (2014)) also acts as the Swedish boss with comedic brilliance.

The plot is rife with unlikely and clearly constructed occurrences, and co-star Anette Støvelbæk (Speed Walking/Kapgang (2014)) is given a flat character who's just a sweet veterinarian and that's it. The minuscule budget also becomes conspicuous, as when a scene that clearly calls for extras has no extras, - and in the animated opening credits, which are so primitive that they appear to come from an American 1960s film. 

So the sum and the width in Humørkort-stativ-sælgerens Søn leaves something to be desired, but the film is fun to watch, although for Danes primarily.

 

Related post:

 

Peter Bay: Kun en Pige (1995) - Schrøder's lavish Lise Nørgaard biopic (co-writer)

 

 

Cost: Unknown, projected 1.43 mil. $

Box office: Approximately 740k $

= Uncertain but likely a huge flop (projected return of 0.51 times its cost)

[Humørkort-stativ-sælgerens Søn was released 28 June (Denmark) and runs 85 minutes. Shooting took place in Copenhagen, Denmark. The film sold 69,999 tickets in Denmark (the only theatrical release market), coming to around 5.18 mil. DKK or 0.74 mil. $. With a projected cost of 10 mil. DKK, the film ranks as a huge flop. It was nominated for 1 Robert, Denmark's Oscar. Bay only returned with a short, Striber (2003). Joof returned in Det Brune Punktum: Far Brugte Ikke Noget (2002, video) and theatrically in Someone Like Hodder/En Som Hodder (2003); Larsen in Hjerteafdelingen (2002, TV-series)), with a voice performance in The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Bear/Drengen Der Ville Gøre Det Umulige (2002) and with a physical theatrical performance in It's All About Love (2003). 311 IMDb users have given Humørkort-stativ-sælgerens Søn a 3.6/10 average rating.]

 

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