- Awards
- 3 wins
Photos
Bela B.
- Fritz Freckstein
- (as Bela B. Felsenheimer)
Martin Dew
- Nigel
- (as Martin D. Dew)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAccording to writer/producer Dan Mirvish, the film was made to ensure that the Academy Award category for Best Original Musical would have a minimum of five entries as required for the category to be activated, which would give his musical film Open House (2004) a chance to be one of the three Oscar nominees. However, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nonetheless chose not to offer an award in the Best Original Musical category that year. (Since then, the Oscar rules have been changed to provide that Best Original Musical category may be activated only by special request of the Music Branch Executive Committee in a year when the field of eligible submissions is determined to be of sufficient quantity and quality to justify award competition.)
Featured review
A Modern Day Candide
"Half Empty" is a hilarious musical about the eternal optimist in this case, a self-help book writer who goes to Germany mistakenly thinking he's popular there. Instead of an adoring audience, he finds himself adrift in a world of jaded misanthropes, including the woman who is supposed to be his publicist. His attempts to make friendsin scenes that are largely improvisedlead to one great encounter after another when he is verbally abused by nihilistic musicians, gruff gangsters, etc. In time, he manages to win over his publicistboth her heart and her mind--but his own world view is shaken when his hero, a much more popular self-help writer, turns out to be not quite what he seems. The action is punctuated by several musical numbers.
We saw this at the DeadCenter film festival in Oklahoma City and were blown away. This is a really funny, inspired small-scale indie production. You could quibble about a few technical things (like the lighting, which is a bit dark) but the piece is funny and inspired enough that you can't care too much. If Voltaire were writing "Candide" today, the character would be a self-help writer.
We saw this at the DeadCenter film festival in Oklahoma City and were blown away. This is a really funny, inspired small-scale indie production. You could quibble about a few technical things (like the lighting, which is a bit dark) but the piece is funny and inspired enough that you can't care too much. If Voltaire were writing "Candide" today, the character would be a self-help writer.
helpful•13
- steffiescott
- Jun 20, 2008
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Languages
- Also known as
- Big in Germany
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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