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Hodet over vannet (1993)
Surprisingly, the American remake was better. This one's not funny.
I saw the American remake ("Head Above Water") when it was released in 1996. It was a true comedy of errors - full of laughs and funny gags. Having now watched the original Norwegian film on video, I'm quite disappointed. It's not much more than a mediocre suspense/thriller film. Had I not seen the American remake, I wouldn't have believed that this could be a comedy at all.
I'm not sure what made the difference. It surely wasn't the subtitles, which I much prefer over dubbing. Furthermore, I'm not used to hearing Norwegian, but it wasn't an issue either, in fact, I loved the way it sounds.
What else? The plot and script. Nine years have passed by since I saw the remake, but it seems both films are very similar, so it must have something to do with acting I guess. Cameron Diaz is not much of a comedian, but she was still funnier than Lene Elise Bergum. Nevertheless, the latter did frequently display a couple of other positive traits, so I have no regrets she was in the film. The rest of the cast were also sufficient, yet ill-inspired. Svein Roger Karlsen as the husband was sub-par. He was the only one that looked like he was trying to act in a comedy, but it didn't work out too well (never brought a smile to my face). Morten Abel as the friend was rather bland and Reidar Sørensen as the ex-boyfriend was just as annoying as his character should have been (which is good).
All in all, if you haven't seen either film - skip this one. The remake is definitely better.
Prog.
His Royal Slyness (1920)
One little note about the cannon scene
In the end of the film, Harold Lloyd lights his cigarette, while accidentally triggered a cannon. This is remarkably similar to a still photo session he participated in, a year earlier (1919) in which he accidentally lit up a real prop bomb and lost two of his right hand fingers. It's astonishing how Harold was able to laugh at this tragic accident so close afterwards.
As for the rest of the film, it's OK, I pretty much agree with wmorrow59's comment, though I didn't find the film as enjoyable as he/she did. "Bumping into Broadway" is the real gem in this KINO-DVD.
Prog.