Movie Review - Alles is Zoals het Zou Moeten Zijn

Director: Ruus Schuurman
Genre: Comedy/ Romance
Runtime: 108 minutes
Year: 2020
Starring: Barbara Sloesen, Jan Kooijman, Sanne Langelaar, Jelle de Jong, Julia Akkermans, Tom van Landuyt, Bram van der Heiden, Patrick Stoof, Allard Geerlings, Holly Mae Brood, Victoria Koblenko, Meral Polat, Emma Deckers, Anne van der Burg, Kharim Amier

Description: Immediately after the birth of their first child, Iris’ (Barbara Sloesen) boyfriend Pieter (Jelle de Jong) confesses that he never wanted this child and has been having an affair for a year. And he will be leaving soon for Africa with his new love.

Review: The Dutch film industry is doing well, but that doesn’t mean we love everything that comes from it. Currently we are having an overkill of romcoms and however they aren’t all bad, “Alles is Zoals het Zou Moeten Zijn” belongs on the bad pile.
In this romcom, Iris has just delivered her first child. Her boyfriend Pieter tells her that he never wanted the baby and is leaving for Africa with his new love, who he has been having an affair with ever since Iris turned out to be pregnant. Pieter abandons her, where television producer Iris drowns in her own sorrow and grief in her far too big house. The tide seems to turn when a handsome man enters her life. Iris tries to get her life back on track, as a new mom, with her disobedient dog and a high demanding job.
Iris is so obsessed with her own problems in her luxury world, that it’s somehow really hard to sympathize with her. This film is clearly taking inspiration from “Soof” (a successful Dutch film and a lot of fun) and “Bridget Jones”, but the lack of successful humor is obvious. The film is filled with privileged, successful, rich people, who nag a lot. And it gets on your nerves. With that, the story is super messy and there are too many subplots.
When it comes to romcom clichés, “Alles is Zoals het Zou Moeten Zijn” ticks a lot of boxes. A handsome yet caring love interest, a career driven woman with whom suddenly everything goes wrong, a group of friends that are supposed to be the funny note. And I have no problems with clichés, but they have to be done well. And here they just aren’t.  
A romcom with a bad script, a messy story, characters that you simply can’t relate too or empathize with. “Alles is Zoals het Zou Moeten Zijn”, is not a success and a complete waste of my time.

Rating: 1,5 / 5

100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 113: De Overgave

Director: Paul Ruven
Genre: Drama/ Romance/ Thriller
Runtime: 93 minutes
Year: 2014
Starring: Rick Engelkes, Sheena Tchai, Dave Mantel, Carly Wijs, Ellen ten Damme, Melody Klaver, Dave Roelvink, Kees Boot, Victoria Koblenko

Description: Two new lovers (Rick Engelkes, Sheena Tchai) want to discover how far each other will go.

Review: I never thought this could be possible, but it happened. There is a Dutch variant on “50 Shades of Grey” and it’s even worse. “De Overgave” is a very bad film.
In “De Overgave” we follow Eva. This bar tender is being watched by actor Tim. He wants her to star in a film with him. There is no script yet, just a book. ‘De Overgave van Floor’ (The surrender of Floor) is the inspiration. While reading, Eva wants to decided whether she is interested or not. This is the start of a reckless relationship and a search for the success behind “50 Shades of Grey”. Because, why do women like these book?
Director Paul Ruven had this based on the book ‘De Overgave van Floor’, a series of Dutch novels that wanted to follow the hype of the “50 Shades of Grey” books. What we get is a tame, bad directed, bad montaged film that never gets exciting or tense. For an erotic thriller it’s not very stimulating.
Those so-called erotic scenes are filmed in black and white, lots of moaning, it’s all very stiff (for the lack of a better word). There is no chemistry between Rick Engelkes and Sheena Tchai and the dialogue is so bad. It’s all film dialogue, no one actually talks like that.
“De Overgave” is a terribly made film, such strange montage. It’s tiring to watch this film. It makes “50 Shades of Grey” look good.

Rating: 0,5/ 5