Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Just Like Home/Hjemve (2007) - Scherfig's followup comedy attempt is a disaster

4/22/2023

Just Like Home/Hjemve (2007) - Scherfig's followup comedy attempt is a disaster

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A gathering of nude middle-aged men on a city square on a sunny day makes up this strange poster for Lone Scherfig's Just Like Home

In a Danish province town, a digging up of the city hall square is disturbed by the appearance of a nude man at night, who creates scandal in the small society.

Just Like Home is written by Niels Hausgaard (Der Kan Man Bare Se (1989, TV-series)) and Danish master filmmaker, co-writer/director Lone Scherfig (The Birthday Trip/Kaj's Fødselsdag (1990)), whose 5th feature it is. The original Danish title translates to 'homesick'.

Reportedly written on a day-to-day basis during production (!) in a cooperation between anecdotal comedian Hausgaard and Scherfig, the film also very much feels like a mass of curious Hausgaard anecdotes pushed together, - and to a very small degree it feels as a solid and in any way authentic narrative. The unnatural odors of the premise culminate in a contrived, awkward ending, SPOILER where the town's men protest in nude on the city hall square, which falls flat, and also in the film's original title; the meaning or relation to the narrative is never touched upon. The photography (by Anthony Dod Mantle (Trance (2013))) is downright ghastly, often accompanied by a light vignette effect and with pointless reflections in the image, (even outdoors!) so that much of the film has slightly reflected superimpositions. Head-shakingly poor.

The casting and tone makes it appear that the film is Scherfig's attempt to make another Italian for Beginners/Italiensk for Begyndere (2000), her massive romcom hit, and in that light Just Like Home almost looks like a disaster, and it is easily understood why she decided to move to England after this debacle. What ultimately saves the film from total disgrace nonetheless are a suitable amount of fun moments that are especially thanks to bravura comediennes Bodil Jørgensen (Julefeber (2020, TV-series)) and Mia Lyhne (Klovn the Final (2020)), but also Peter Gantzler (Tinka og Kongespillet (2019, TV-series)) and Peter Hesse Overgaard (Kakerlak (2021, short)) make one chuckle from their grotesque characterizations, saving the film from utter disgrace in the process.

Their Finest (2016) or, Catrin's Fight
An Education (2009) - Scherfig, Hornby and Barber's tender and intelligent coming-of-age charmer

2000 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Top 10: Best Danish movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Top 10: The best adaptations reviewed by Film Excess to date
Italian for Beginners/Italiensk for Begyndere (2000) - A perfect gem of a Dogme romcom

Scherfig, Hausgaard and actress Ann Eleonora Jørgensen are interviewed about the film at great length in this video (in Danish)

Cost: Unknown, projected 18 mil. DKK, approximately 2.64 mil. $

Box office: 683k $

= Uncertain but likely a mega-flop (projected return of 0.25 times its cost)

[Just Like Home was released 30 March (Denmark) and runs 97 minutes. Shooting took place in Denmark. The film opened #4 to a 118k $ first weekend in Denmark, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#4) and grossed 683k $. This was the film's only general release market. The performance is a sharp contrast to Scherfig's previous Danish film Italian for Beginners, which sold 828k tickets in the small country. If made on a realistic 18 mil. DKK budget, approximately 2.64 mil. $, the film would rank as a mega-flop. The film was nominated for 1 Robert award, Denmark's Oscar. Scherfig returned with Jeg Er Bare den Logerende (2008, short) and theatrically with An Education (2009). Lars Kaalund (Accused/Anklaget (2005)) returned in Daisy Diamond (2007); Jørgensen in Mig & Che (2007, short) and theatrically in The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche Part 1/De Unge År: Erik Nietzsche Sagaen Del 1 (2007). 428 IMDb users have given Just Like Home a 5.4/10 average rating.]

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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4/22/2023

Just Like Home/Hjemve (2007) - Scherfig's followup comedy attempt is a disaster

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