This movie seems to have no purpose whatsoever. It's clear that the makers had a classic road-movie in mind, but it never succeeds in giving you the real feeling of it (apart from the fact that the protagonists drive around the country in a mini-van). The (few) characters are all extremely unsympathetic, so you couldn't care less what happens to them, there is no noticeable "Werdegang" or catharsis, at the end everything is exactly the same as at the beginning.
Much has been said here on account of the abundant nudity in this movie. Well, I am not one to complain about male nudity (not me!), but even I like it to be at least functional (for not-functional nudity there are a zillion sites on internet to see). Here it is mostly unnecessary, from the over-extended skinny-dipping scene at the start of the movie, to the bizarre exhibitionist prank that Phillip plays on Boris and Boris's just as bizarre exhibitionist reaction, to the urinating in front of the camera. There's by the way a lot of urinating going on, I guess a psycho-analyst would have a ball in pointing out all kinds of Freudian motives in this movie.
The scenery is nice, like a travel-brochure for the countryside of Germany. But what was the purpose of going to the remnants of Carinhall, the country-villa of Nazi-VIP Hermann Göring, when nothing at all (except of course the inevitable urinating, in this case on the entrance!) is done with this in itself fascinating place?? There are more flaws like that in the script. What was the point of Phillip being an American? Or Boris being Polish? It seemed to serve no purpose whatsoever.
As far as the acting goes, with George Taylor (the gay one) it's hard to look beyond his frequently exposed naked body and his weird fits of pubescent elation. Eric Klotzsch (the straight one) has a more serious and thoughtful attitude but as a result he's a bit of a bore. And Michal Grabowski as the Polish pick-up is just annoying and non-descript.
In the end everything is - as I said at the start - apparently the same as before, so on the whole their journey, as well as this movie, feels like totally superfluous.
Much has been said here on account of the abundant nudity in this movie. Well, I am not one to complain about male nudity (not me!), but even I like it to be at least functional (for not-functional nudity there are a zillion sites on internet to see). Here it is mostly unnecessary, from the over-extended skinny-dipping scene at the start of the movie, to the bizarre exhibitionist prank that Phillip plays on Boris and Boris's just as bizarre exhibitionist reaction, to the urinating in front of the camera. There's by the way a lot of urinating going on, I guess a psycho-analyst would have a ball in pointing out all kinds of Freudian motives in this movie.
The scenery is nice, like a travel-brochure for the countryside of Germany. But what was the purpose of going to the remnants of Carinhall, the country-villa of Nazi-VIP Hermann Göring, when nothing at all (except of course the inevitable urinating, in this case on the entrance!) is done with this in itself fascinating place?? There are more flaws like that in the script. What was the point of Phillip being an American? Or Boris being Polish? It seemed to serve no purpose whatsoever.
As far as the acting goes, with George Taylor (the gay one) it's hard to look beyond his frequently exposed naked body and his weird fits of pubescent elation. Eric Klotzsch (the straight one) has a more serious and thoughtful attitude but as a result he's a bit of a bore. And Michal Grabowski as the Polish pick-up is just annoying and non-descript.
In the end everything is - as I said at the start - apparently the same as before, so on the whole their journey, as well as this movie, feels like totally superfluous.