The Horniest Day - Blu-ray

Film: Although Benno (Florian David Fitz) loses consciousness with nice regularity, he hasn't really worried about it until now. Rather, he's done what he does best: block out any problems and just go about his day. But after he falls onto the tracks in a subway station, he is taken to a special clinic and thoroughly examined. The result is shocking: Benno has a brain tumor and has only a short time to live. He is to spend the last precious moments of his life in a hospice. Not with Benno! The life artist joins forces with the pianist Andi (Matthias Schweighöfer), who has a lung disease, to experience something very special once again - nothing less than the hottest day! Since they don't have to fear any consequences, the unequal duo first scams themselves out of a whole chunk of money in order to set off on one last adventure. But the journey to Africa holds a lot of surprises for the two.

Four years after his directorial debut with the comedy Jesus Loves Me, Florian David Fitz tries again with Der geilste Tag to convince as a leading actor as well as a director and screenwriter. And this time he definitely succeeds better than in his first attempt. That one was quite original, charming and amusing, but it also had some obvious weaknesses. The Horniest Day isn't completely free of those either. Nevertheless, the tragicomedy seems much more mature and coherent than its predecessor. Over long stretches Florian David Fitz manages the difficult balancing act between humor and drama very well, which is also due to the fact that the two main characters are charmingly drawn in their own way.

However, there are a few scenes where the humor becomes a bit too brute and flat. This might lead to hearty laughter in some viewers, but the overall impression, which is very positive in itself, is diminished a bit. Because the movie really didn't need these moments to be funny and entertaining. Said scenes shouldn't be revealed at this point, in order not to spoil the certain element of surprise for viewers who can laugh about them. But it can be said that in their own way they seem rather like a foreign body in the production, which is otherwise executed with rather sensitive hands.

However, fortunately, while this point of criticism is clear, it doesn't weigh so heavily as to make the film even remotely bad. There are simply too many positives for that, from the really good acting of the two leads to some very beautiful imagery and some very funny and also poignant moments. Although the story really doesn't reinvent the wheel and also serves quite a few clichés, as a viewer you accompany the two terminally ill people on their search for the hottest day with great pleasure. A film with wit and heart - even if The Hottest Day isn't the hottest film, it's a damn good one! And for that it gets a very clear rating: Absolutely worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The wonderful landscape shots of Africa also come into their own in the home cinema. The warm colors are powerfully mixed and the overall sharpness is at a very high level. Even in darker scenes, the many small details come across very well. The audio is in a pleasantly dynamic DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix that not only lets the voices ring out of the speakers with good clarity, but also provides some surround movement every now and then with well-executed sound effects and the music. Good.

Extras: The Blu-ray comes up trumps with a couple of good extras. The centrepiece is the pleasingly detailed Making of (approx. 51:58 mins), which goes into great detail about individual aspects of the production. In addition, there is the most awesome talk (approx. 2:51 min.) with Joko Winterscheidt, and three amusing promo clips entitled Die magische Minute (approx. 1:56 min.). Four previously unreleased production diaries (approx. 8:57 min. in total) and the trailer round out the good bonus offerings.

Conclusion: The Horniest Day is certainly not perfect, but overall offers good entertainment with a nice story, some good laughs and two likeable leads. So fans of Matthias Schweighöfer and Florian David Fitz will get their money's worth with the latter's latest directorial effort. The Blu-ray presents the film in appealing picture and sound quality and also has good extras such as a detailed making of on board. For this there is a clear: Recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp