All for One/Alle for Én (2011) - Heide and Øgendahl's flawed but funny Danish crime comedy

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The four male stars look game to make us laugh on the not very original poster for Rasmus Heide's All for One

Three dingbat friends are going to prison after a car theft but learn that they can avoid it by helping the police reveal a Dutch art dealer's secret drug business.

All for One is an enthusiastic crime comedy written by the also co-starring Mick Øgendahl (All for Two/Alle for To (2013)) and directed by Rasmus Heide (The Christmas Party/Julefrokosten (2009)). Øgendahl has written an excessively verbally and language-oriented script, and some of the scenes of the slacker characters sitting around telling each other jokes just don't fly.
Jon Lange (Denmark 92/Sommeren '92 (2015)) as the group's 'straight man' is wobbly in his acting, SPOILER and the sentimental ending, in which his separated wife takes him back, is pretty thick. Mille Dinesen (Rita (2012-17)) is wasted, but Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner (1982)) is fun to watch as the well-cast villain, and Charlotte Fich (People Get Eaten /Mennesker Bliver Spist (2015)) is also good as the police mama, a role that riffs on her performance in the popular Danish police show Unit One/Rejseholder (2000-04).
Though flawed, All for One is fairly entertaining and will certainly make a Dane laugh, which is clearly its main ambition.

Here is a video from the film's premiere

Cost: 19.5 mil DKK, approximately 3.1 mil. $
Box office: Unknown (but likely around 30 mil. DKK, approximately 4.8 mil. $
= Uncertain (but likely a big flop)
[All for One premiered 10 February (Denmark) and runs 81 minutes. The funding was supported by the Danish Film Institute, Den Vestdanske Filmpulje and TV2. Shooting took place in Aarhus, Jutland in Denmark. The film was a hit in Danish cinemas, where 368,110 bought admission. But it doesn't seem to have had any life outside of Denmark; it is only listed to have been shown at the Hamburg Film Festival. The Danish audience will have generated around 30 mil. DKK, still not enough to rank the film better than big flop status. The 'rules' for hit or flop status are, however, written somehow differently in the state-sponsored movie business in small Denmark, however, where All for One is recognized as a big hit and have resulted in two sequels to date, All for Two/Alle for To (2013) and All for Three/Alle for Tre (2017). The film won the Audience Award Robert, the Danish Oscar equivalent. 1,951 IMDb users have given All for One a 5.7/10 average rating.]

What do you think of All for One?

The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche Part 1/De Unge År: Erik Nietzsche Sagaen Del 1 (2007) - Thuesen and Von Trier's hilarious film school comedy

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+ Best Danish Movie of the Year + Best Mega-flop Movie of the Year + Best Autobiographical Movie of the Year (Lars Von Trier, screenplay, as Erik Nietzsche)

Jonatan Spang as the titular Erik Nietzsche, imprisoned in celluloid on a naked woman's backside on this poster for Jacob Thuesen's The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche Part 1

Young Erik gets into the Danish Film School by a mistake and continues there due to pressure and creative curiosity. Kind as he is, he gradually learns how to trick all the idiots there, - and to be kind towards himself.

The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche Part 1 is an autobiography of Danish master filmmaker Lars Von Trier (Breaking the Waves (1996)), who wrote the script based on his own experiences as a student in the Danish Film School in the late 1970s and changed the lead character's name into Erik Nietzsche. It is an extremely cheerful and very funny expose and ridicule of specific persons in the Danish film business and film school, and of the culture in the enclave in general.
Jonatan Spang (Easy Skanking/Fidibus (2006)) is good as the struggling young Erik, and in rambling, hilarious supporting roles Søren Pilmark (Kon-Tiki (2012)), Søren Malling (Mesteren (2017)), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones (2011-17)) and Jens Albinus (The Idiots/Idioterne (1998)) are a riot. In case you are unfamiliar with Von Trier's humor, be warned: Included as parts of the fun here are copious amounts of sex and excrement. - But The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche Part 1 also abounds with good and well executed ideas. It has to be one of the funniest Danish films of all.
Needless to say, it is funniest if one is Danish and even better if one knows who is being parodied when. My passionate embrace of it also stems from its taking the piss on the glorified film school institution. It is the only second fiction feature to date by great Danish director Jacob Thuesen (Accused/Anklaget (2005)).

Related post:

Jacob Thuesen: 2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Accused/Anklaget (2005) or, Grey Danish Molestation Misery

Here is a piece of a later project of director Thuesen's, of the Los Angeles freeway system

Cost: Unknown - but in excess of 7.5 mil. DKK - equal to approximately 1.07 mil. $
Box office: Unknown - but reportedly around 243k $
= Unknown - but looks like a mega-flop
[The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche Part 1 premiered 8 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 91 minutes. The production was given 7.5 mil. DKK in support from the Danish Film Institute and was put together as a co-production of no less than 15 companies and support funds. In the film's biggest market, its native Denmark, it sold just 2,938 tickets, according to one source, while another claims it made 236k $ there, - which would put the ticket prize at around 78 $! In any case, the film seems to have made regrettably little business. It was nominated for a Robert (Danish Oscar), two Bodils (Danish critics' awards) and the Nordic Council Film Prize. A Part 2 has not been announced yet. 600 IMDb users have given The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche Part 1 a 6.1/10 average rating.]

What do you think of The Early Years: Erik Nietzsche Part 1?