Fantastic Fest 2011

Director Mikkel Norgaard in attendance!

Frank and Casper have a simple, multi-stage plan for the coming weekend. First, they shall engage in an activity guaranteed to keep their women at a safe distance. In this case that means canoeing. Second, under the guise of a camping adventure, they shall canoe not to a campground but to an exclusive one-night-a-year brothel. Truly it shall be a Tour De Pussy. With a plan as simple as this, what could go wrong?

Well, Frank could learn by accident that his girlfriend is pregnant, for one thing. And that she’s told all of their friends but not him, for another. And that the reason for her silence is that she’s concerned he’s not ‘fatherhood material’ and is therefore considering an abortion, in which case it will be simpler if Frank never knew anything at all. What does this have to do with the Tour De Pussy? Well, nothing, really. That’s still happening. Casper will tolerate no change in plans. It’s just that, in an effort to prove his girlfriend wrong Frank essentially kidnaps her eleven year old nephew and takes him along with them for a weekend of bonding.

Danish standup comics Frank Hvam and Casper Christensen have long been staples of Scandinavian television, their series CLOWN running for six seasons with the two close friends playing exaggerated versions of themselves stumbling from one socially awkward situation to the next. For the feature version they pull out all the stops. This is gutter comedy elevated to the level of high art, a laugh-til-it-hurts comedy of transgression and moral degradation played out in front of – and often involving – an eleven year old boy. A movie this wrong has seldom been this funny. (Todd Brown)