Sweethearts

What a disastrous day: First Franny (Karoline Herfurth) is sent on forced leave because of her panic attacks. And then she is also taken hostage on the way home. The perfectly thought-out plan of single mother Mel (Hannah Herzsprung), who wants to scam a better life for herself and her daughter by stealing diamonds, goes awry because of an overzealous security guard. And now she's got that bundle of nerves Franny on her hands. And she not only messes up the delivery of the stones to a potential buyer, she also drives the tough Mel more and more to the brink of a nervous breakdown. When the charming policeman Harry (Frederick Lau) runs into the two by chance and becomes Mel's second hostage, the chaos is perfect.

Sweethearts is the latest directorial effort from actress Karoline Herfurth following the successful romantic comedy SMS für Dich. There is a bit of romance again this time, but only on the sidelines. At the centre are two completely different women who, through a series of unfortunate coincidences, become partners in a turbulent story. There are some very funny ideas in it, which are expressed especially in sometimes wonderfully biting dialogues. However, this time Herfurth not only strains the audience's laugh muscles, but also their nerves. Especially at the beginning the action is very hysterical and it is really hard to build up real sympathy towards the main characters.

Anneke Kim Sarnau is really great as the SEK leader, who shoots even faster with her loose mouth than with her gun. And Frederick Lau, who already had some of the best laughs on his side in SMS für Dich, is also convincing all along the line again here. The chemistry between Lau and Herfurth is also very good, which also makes the scenes between Franny and Harry absolutely successful. However, that doesn't really change the fact that the two main characters in particular don't really want to hit the right note. If the hysteria had been turned down a bit, especially in the first twenty minutes, the whole thing might have worked. As it is, however, it's really hard to be completely light-heartedly entertained by what is, at its core, a genuinely amusing story.

When Sweethearts works, it works really well. That's when the comedy is so much fun that you're inclined to forget about its flaws. But unfortunately, they call themselves again and again loudly in memory, so that in the end, unfortunately, not quite such a positive overall impression remains, as still with SMS for you. The whole thing is worth seeing, but this time only with a few clear cutbacks.

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp