A spin-off film from the television show of the same name, Klown (Klovn) is a Danish comedy film directed by Mikkel Nørgaard who also directed the television version.
Meet Frank, a clumsy and awkward man who is happy in how his life is going, with very little responsibility. When he finds out that his girlfriend, Mia, is pregnant, and that she questions Frank’s ability to be a good Dad, he decides that he needs to prove to her that he is capable. When Mia agrees to look after her sisters’ 12 year old son, Bo, Frank “kidnaps” him and takes him along with himself and his sexually depraved friend, Casper, on a canoeing trip which Casper refers to as “The Pussy Tour”. Attempting to give Bo a weekend to remember so that he can look like a hero to Mia, things go from bad, to worse, to even worse, as our “lads’ weekend” turns into a messy and chaotic series of circumstances.
To say that this film outrageous and crazy would be a bit of an understatement. The scenarios that Frank, Casper and Bo find themselves in during their weekend of camping go from being awkward and a bit rough, to being absolutely mad. It gets very close to crossing lines that would really make it a hard film to watch, but thankfully refrains from doing so when it reaches the edge. It’s very close to the bone though, and the comedy is crude and at times pretty gross-out, yet the well penned script and performance of Frank, by Frank Hvam, lift the film up and make it a very funny film that hits more than it misses. Now, I haven’t seen the series, which is hugely popular in its native Denmark, but I had a lot of fun with this film and do intend to go out of my way to watch the series now I’ve seen this. Hvam, and Casper Christiansen are a hoot and it’s easy to see why they are so successful in these roles. The comic timing, which at times feels ad-libbed and off-the-cuff, is done very well and there are some genuinely hilarious scenes here.
I will say that some of the jokes did miss their mark and I felt like some serious issues were skimmed over and joked about in ways I found a bit haphazard and offensive for offensive sake, and I was a little uncomfortable with some of the themes that were dealt with because until the film ended I was unsure how far the filmmaker would go with it, but overall I found it to be an entertaining movie. I’m not sure if my enjoyment may have been stunted somewhat by my lack of seeing the show in which the film spun from.
Arrow Films have released this title on DVD, and I’m glad they did because I might not have watched this if they hadn’t. Fans of risqué comedy should really love this, and now UK fans can treat themselves to the Arrow DVD release.
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