Keinohrhasen (Rabbit Without Ears) (2007)

Having really enjoyed Barfuss, and after seeing a funny clip in one of my German classes, I was pretty intrigued by Til Schweiger's more recent writing/directing venture Keinohrhasen, aka Rabbit Without Ears. I'm sorry to say it didn't live up to my expectations. Schweiger stars as tabloid journalist Ludo Dekker, a cocky womanizer who believes his honest approach to one night stands makes it ok to ignore women's feelings. He initiates an elaborate scheme with his friend and photographer Moritz (Matthias Schweighöfer) to get the scoop on a politician's wedding proposal at a private dinner. He ends up crashing through a ceiling and spoiling the entire party, and is sentenced to community service for destruction of property/spying/general stupidity.

He is assigned to work at a small daycare center run by best friends Miriam (Alwara Höfels) and Anna (Nora Tschirner). The latter was seriously bullied by Ludo when they were children at school, and upon seeing that he is still an overconfident jerk, she does all she can to make his life hell while he works for her. As they become reaquainted, they acclimate a bit- mostly Anna tries not to be so stiff and Ludo shows a more caring side to his personality. After a drunken hook up, they decide it was a one-time mistake, and in fact their friendship only deepens from there. Of course Anna realizes she's falling for him and Ludo is completely oblivious to her feelings (seeing her as a "sister" figure), and ends up screwing her over. Actual German movie star Jürgen Vogel, playing himself, pops up here and there and helps or hinders the situation.

This is a fairly straightforward, formulaic romantic comedy. It's got the whole opposites-attract, friendship-building-montages, overt-sexual-tension thing going on. Throughout the film there are some very funny or cute moments that had me engaged, and there are some likable characters, but Schweiger and co-writer Anika Decker messed up the binding theme: the central relationship between Anna and Ludo. It's really not believable or interesting. Anna starts off really, truly hating Ludo, holding tight to the grudges of her childhood abuse and constantly shocked by his continued immaturity. Then she suddenly starts feeling sorry for the way she's acted (and yes, it was petty to hold onto her anger, but whatever, Ludo is a dick in the present as well as the past). And yeah, I understand Ludo's not a bad person and he made her laugh and they got along well as friends, ok. But I really didn't see the "falling in love" thing. And I think by the end we were supposed to see Ludo's transformation into a sympathetic hero character but... I never saw that. He was still primarily a selfish jerk, with some lapses into sweetness or kindness here and there. Also he totally took advantage of Anna's drunkenness. Not ok at all.

Another thing that frustrated me was Anna. For the most part I liked her, and I understand what kind of character they were trying to write and I am on board with the idea. But then there were all these little things that didn't seem to mesh with the rest of her personality and it was annoying and often stereotypical. She seems a smart, independent woman who, after several failed relationships, is not optimistic about finding love, but would still like to try something serious. She disapproves of Ludo's one-night-stands or purely sexual relationships, no matter how honest he is with the woman, believing that it's likely some women may be unable to separate emotions from sex, and indeed some might listen to his proposal, be outwardly ok with it, but secretly wonder if maybe this time he'll want to have a real relationship because she's so great.

I thought Anna was pretty cool. But then there are a lot of cracks about her glasses ("Four eyes"? Really? Are we in 3rd grade? Is that still a legitimate insult?), and she lets them get to her for some reason. She takes them off while driving, insisting she doesn't really need them. When she goes on a date she doesn't wear them. Throughout the film she'll just inexplicably not wear them sometimes. It's not a big deal, but as a glasses-wearer it's something I pay attention to, and I hate this re-enforcement of the "girls can't be pretty if they wear glasses" concept. And it seemed out of character for her to even care about it. There were a lot of little contradictions like that, making her awkwardly developed and never fully realized- I could never get a real handle on her character.

Keinohrhasen is pretty popular in Germany (it's not available in America at the moment), and in many respects I can see why. It is at parts very funny. There are a lot of jabs at celebrity and American entertainment specifically, with various scenes of Ludo on the job. The kids are cute (the two main girls are played by Schweiger's daughters) and I liked seeing Ludo hanging out with them, since it really did humanize him as well as make for some silly moments and great visual gags. Anna's friend Miriam is also quite amusing and likable, with some overly blunt sexual conversations. I think Schweiger has an imaginative and enjoyable comedic writing style, but isn't as adept at character development or meaningful relationships (though he did a better job with these concepts in Barfuss). Like many romantic comedies, if you don't think too much about it, it's a fun time. But I have the feeling Schweiger might have been aiming for something slightly more meaningful or well-rounded (maybe?), which makes it more disappointing that he missed the mark. I wonder if it will get better or worse in the sequel.

3/5