ThiefHott Too much of everything

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

BallWubba Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

zetes Lars von Trier's Danish-language comedy. It never interested me much, though I used to love von Trier (despite always acknowledging his numerous flaws). And it is definitely one of his least good films. If we ever find ourselves looking back at his career in the distant future, this one will not be mentioned much. It's about an out-of-work actor (Jens Albinus) who is hired by a company's CEO who is pretending only to be that company's lead lawyer (Peter Gantzler) to impersonate the mythical, unseen "boss of it all". Gantzler plans to sell off the company, as well as his employee's patents, to an Icelander (played by Children of Nature's director, Friðrik Þór Friðriksson), but he doesn't want to be identified as the guilty party, instead setting up this patsy to take the blame from his crazy co-workers (among whom is Iben Hjejle, whom you may remember from Stephen Frear's High Fidelity). The film is moderately amusing. Though many people seem to think von Trier's oeuvre consists mostly of tragedies, his work is more often darkly comic. The Boss of It All isn't nearly his funniest work. The Kingdom and The Idiots are both funnier, as is arguably Europa. Friðrik Þór Friðriksson actually provides most of the film's laughs as the thunderous, Dane-hating Icelander, recalling Ernst-Hugo Järegård's Dane-hating Swede from The Kingdom. But still, The Boss of It All is good, even if it will eventually just be a footnote.

Joseph Sylvers Even when trying to make a frivolous film, Lars Von Trier still makes a minor classic, swimming in themes of pretension and acting, wanting to be liked, the hierarchies of power, exploitation, and cinematic comedy itself. A man who owns a company, w...(read more)ants to sell up, but in is a bind, because he created an imaginary president to take the blame for all stern management decisions, and now his buyer will only speak with the president. He hires an incredibly pretentious actor to do the one time gig, but things go wrong when he accidentally introduces himself to the employees, and has to spend a week riding out the role, till the deal is complete. There's narration in the opening of the movie about this being a an attempt to make a non-political comedy(it fails), that pokes fun at "artsy -fartsy culture"(success)" and that alone was enough to make me want to stop. But this is the trick of all films by this guy, their grueling at times, but also strangely magnetic, and the end is always, always worth the wait, and there's no difference h ere. The "Automotovision" is a bit distracting at first, but I forgot it was there for the most part, all of the actors, two from another Trier film "The Idiots", and Iben Hjejle (of High Fidelity), give great performances. Though Trier makes plenty of use of location changes, at ironic times, the cinema, the Mary go round, etc. Iben Hjejle at one point says "life's like a dogma film, it's hard to hear the words sometimes but there still there", and that's an example of Trier's self mockery as much, as a good rule for viewing the movie in general, don't mind the camera, keep an eye of the characters. Enormously entertaining, and maybe brilliant.

Robert_Woodward The Boss of it All, Lars Von Trier's latest film to be released in the UK, is a surprisingly effective comedy, in which the director cleverly skewers the slippery hierarchy and buck-passing in business culture. The film is largely set in the offices of a Danish IT firm managed by one Ravn (Peter Gantzler), who supposedly reports to a never-before-seen superior. Ravn is actually at the top of the command chain, but has invented another level in the company hierarchy so that he can credit unpopular decisions to 'the boss of it all.'When Ravn decides to sell the firm to an Icelandic competitor, he needs the boss to put in an appearance, and consequently hires an actor, Kristoffer (Jens Albinus), to play the part. Complications ensue as Kristoffer inherits the ill will and misunderstanding generated by Ravn under the boss's guise. Kristoffer's encounters with 'the six', the original employees used by Ravn to start up the firm, are both painful and hilarious to watch, as the bewildered actor muddles through love affairs, ducks out of punch-ups and squirms through boardroom meetings in which he has as little clue as we do about what the business does.Ravn and Kristoffer's meetings outside the office give rise to some very funny set pieces outside of the office (including some superb visual gags at the zoo). Ravn's scheming personality is increasingly exposed and Kristoffer grows increasingly confident in his acting. This is a film where the story adds layer upon layer to the comedy: it gets funnier and funnier as the plot thickens. The finale, where Kristoffer wrestles with Ravn, 'the six', the Icelandic magnate and his interpreter, and even himself, is the film's glorious high point, culminating in one moment of outstanding absurdity.Roughly edited and devoid of musical backing, this is both funny and thought-provoking cinema. That Von Trier interrupts on occasion to remind us we are just watching a story is thus puzzling and unnecessary. This remains however a minor quibble with an excellent film.

Michael Kastberg Lars Von Trier is know for making heavy film-projects, which are never very funny. Now, this time around, someone has convinced him to make a comedy. I had high hopes for this movie - Von Trier being a master instructor - and figured he'd be able to do it left handed. However, Trier has never put a lid on his disdain for "mainstream", and seeing this movie, I can only explain the result as Trier loathing to do a mainstream comedy.The editing of the film has the camera cutting for new angles all the time, in a tempo which would make MTV jealous. It is totally unnecessary. Lars also plays with deliberate continuous errors, just to make sure that the viewers is totally aware that he is only watching a movie.The plot of the movie is fairly original, and the movie does have a few moments where it makes you smile, but I can't help but to feel,that Lars Von Trier did his out most to sabotage his own movie. Especially the characters are totally overdone, and what had so much potential, lacks any form of release.Lars even has the lead character stating his mission as director:"could it be, that modern comedy, is about putting the spectator on display?"Lars' final F-you-and-goodbye ends the film - "those, who got what they came for, deserved it" (i.e. Lars wants to _educate_ his audience, not give them what they want).