Advertising Rules!
German film, Released 2001.
Well, in truth this film actually has 4 known titles, including the final one, chosen for the American DVD. I'll explain that in a bit.
The funny thing is that I had no idea this was a German title when I picked it up. It was with all the other new releases at Hollywood Video, but it caught my eye because I hadn't heard of it. I was kind-of looking for something obscure, and it seemed to fit. Only after taking a second look at the back of the DVD do I notice it says "Original Language German 5.1 Dolby Digital". Not that I hate German/Foreign films, it's just I wasn't expecting it. I mean, enjoyed Run Lola Run...I actually own it.
But, I digress.
As I said, the American DVD was titled just "Advertising Rules!", but the original titles were as follows, in order of most recent:
The film stars:
Alexander Sheer as Viktor Vogel, Götz George as Eddie Kaminksy, and Chulpan Khamatova as Rosa Braun.
Now, I've never heard of any of these people, but I'm sure they hold SOME kind of credibility in Germany.
The story begins when Viktor succesfully social engineers himself into meeting for an ad-agency. Viktor ends up ruining the ad campaign for veteran, Eddie Kaminsky. Viktor manages to get himself a partnership with Kaminksy on the ad campaign that he just recently fouled up for the old veteran. This leads into a much bigger conflict when he 'borrows' an idea he and his newly found girlfriend, Rosa, came up with for her art exhibition when he applies it to his new ad campaign. This all leads into a lot of misunderstandings and foul ups for the bunch.
(There may be a bit of spoilage..I'm trying my best to not ruin the story, but I also am trying to provide a semi-thorough review..)
Overall I thought the story was fairly decent. The only things I had a bit of a problem with were the characters and the ending. A background for the character, Eddie Kaminsky, wasn't totally necessary. It is established in the story line that he is already a starving art director for a leading advertising company. But the characters of Rosa and Viktor seemed a LITTLE weak. Without spoiling any details, it seems to me they could have gone just a little bit deeper into Viktor's past and why he is so hopeful to establish a career. Rosa's character has a conflict with her parents and how they try running her life, but that was merely touched on, and not elaborated on.
I don't want to complain. The characters were good. I am just saying it could have been better than it already was.
The other thing I had a problem with was the ending. It seemed a little anti-climatic. Viktor has a revelation, provoked by Kaminsky and ends up making the right career move, but the ending didn't follow up with anything about Viktor and Rosa. It seemed like a disappointment. They had struggled with each other a little bit as the story was progressing, but they just didn't go into else after the turning point in the film.
Other than that, I thought it was a wonderful film. It is meant to be a comedy, but it isn't at all slap-sticky like most American-made comedies are nowadays.
I highly recommend you pick up a copy, either as a rental or as a purchase.
You will enjoy it.