"Echte Kerle" or "Regular Guys" is a 95-minute live action movie from 1996, so this one has its 20th anniversary this year. It is a German-language film, even if it says "Ruassian language" here on IMDb. The director and one of the two writers is Rolf Silber and it is certainly his most known work. This can also be said about pretty much the entire cast here, including supporting actor Tim Bergmann, who (for whatever reason) managed a German Film Award nomination for his work here. But he was really generic and stereotypical and certainly a bad choice to recognize this way. No surprise he has not received other nominations in his career. If anybody from the cast was somewhat above-average here, then it was lead actor Christoph M. Ohrt. But even he shines only because the rest of the cast is really weak and the material from the writers is also not good, so not too difficult to elevated it.
Almost the only reason why this film is still somewhat known today is because it is a gay-themed movie. These usually are seen a lot in terms of quantity and the awards recognition the film got boosted this even more. Admittedly, I have seen many gay-themed films that are way inferior to this one, especially short film, but this should not mean that this was a good watch here. The 7.x rating it has here on IMDb is way too high. The story is absurd and unrealistic for the part, the performances are neither bold nor memorable and the writing overall feels generally very much uninspired. It was virtually impossible to care for any of the characters because what they did made rarely sense at all in terms of authenticity. The hammy approach or approach void of talent (in terms of Bergmann's case) makes it even pretty cringeworthy at times. But hey, it shows that you can be void of talent and still be nominated at the German Film Awards. Should give hope to all the struggling German actors out there. This "comedy" (the " because it's never really funny) film is all about relationship struggles, but I must say I never felt for the characters or cared for who gets together with whom. And the final plot twist is not helping things either, let alone the ridiculous idea that Ohrt's character possibly discovers his homosexuality from one day to the next. It is just never forking for a whole bunch of reasons and the script is all showy and hammy and offers almost zero substance. If you consider watching this film, then maybe you have seen already Sönke Wortmann's "Der bewegte Mann" from two years earlier and this one here feels like a cheap copy that went pretty wrong. I highly not recommend the watch and 4 out of 10 is still pretty generous.
Almost the only reason why this film is still somewhat known today is because it is a gay-themed movie. These usually are seen a lot in terms of quantity and the awards recognition the film got boosted this even more. Admittedly, I have seen many gay-themed films that are way inferior to this one, especially short film, but this should not mean that this was a good watch here. The 7.x rating it has here on IMDb is way too high. The story is absurd and unrealistic for the part, the performances are neither bold nor memorable and the writing overall feels generally very much uninspired. It was virtually impossible to care for any of the characters because what they did made rarely sense at all in terms of authenticity. The hammy approach or approach void of talent (in terms of Bergmann's case) makes it even pretty cringeworthy at times. But hey, it shows that you can be void of talent and still be nominated at the German Film Awards. Should give hope to all the struggling German actors out there. This "comedy" (the " because it's never really funny) film is all about relationship struggles, but I must say I never felt for the characters or cared for who gets together with whom. And the final plot twist is not helping things either, let alone the ridiculous idea that Ohrt's character possibly discovers his homosexuality from one day to the next. It is just never forking for a whole bunch of reasons and the script is all showy and hammy and offers almost zero substance. If you consider watching this film, then maybe you have seen already Sönke Wortmann's "Der bewegte Mann" from two years earlier and this one here feels like a cheap copy that went pretty wrong. I highly not recommend the watch and 4 out of 10 is still pretty generous.