Highly Overrated But Still Good

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

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

SPOILER ALERT: Brilliant. At first I wasn't sure how I felt about it because I was rooting so hard for the lead that when I found out he was so flawed I was upset. I wanted him to be a good guy. I felt bad for him, but at the same time knowing he was not a good person. But even saying that is simplistic, because he's so three dimensional, you just see him as a victim of his circumstances and yet... you want him to do the right thing but know if you were in his shoes it would be difficult. So many great little touches from the little girl with the squeaky carriage to how he gradually comes to accept the town. Visually it's wonderful and the acting is terrific. So many odd characters. Funny enough to me, it felt like a REALLY DARK Hot Fuzz. Though I do see the Cohen Brother influence especially the influence of Blood Simple. This movie was surprising and fresh. I also thought it was interesting in the very last scene when they dealt him cards but when the camera pulled back there were no cards on the table. Some say this was a mistake. I wonder. To me it felt like it was saying "Things are not what they seem" just like the little town where nothing goes wrong... not what it seems.

It is happening again. A film is a hit and Hollywood remakes it. Watch the original before they do that.Henrik Ruben Genz directs this film (and will direct the remake) that has been compared to a Coen brothers film. The synopsis is simple - Hot Fuzz in Danish, but a noir, not a comedy, even though it is funny at times.Jakob Cedergren was great as the cop sent to a small town for his transgressions, and who got himself into a bigger mess with Lene Maria Christensen. She was also extremely good, as was her husband, played by Kim Bodnia.What a great ending!

Terribly Happy is a terribly good Danish Oscar submission, remade by the original director, Henrik Ruben Genz, honoring the noir tradition with an off-center hero cop, a small town full of figurative dirt easily hidden by its voracious bog, a blonde femme fatale in the Hitchcock tradition, and a low-key cinematography that captures the desolate, anarchic lowland of South Jute.Jakob Cedergren, in a Guy Pearce Memento turn as a cop reassigned from Copenhagen to Australia, immediately gets caught in the web of lawlessness of a small town that could substitute for any remote stop on an American cinematic Western stage route.As in Orson Welles' Touch of Evil, no good is bound to come of it for citizen or criminal; you can feel the evil in every frame of this thriller whose only flaw is the illogic of its outcomes.

I recently saw this at the 2009 Palm Springs International Film Festival. from writer/director Henrik Ruben Genze based on the novel by Erling Jepsen is a dark and quirky crime story set in a small rural Danish village where everybody knows everything about everyone and they live and die by their own unique code of justice. Robert (Jakob Cedergren) is a cop from the city who has been reassigned as the town marshall because of a mental breakdown he suffered and he has to stay in the demotion until he can work his way back onto the force back in the the city. He immediately discovers the odd and unwelcome clannish ways of border town community and meets Ingerlise (Lena Maria Christiansen), the abused wife of the town bully Jorgen (Kim Bodnia). This is a psychological thriller with suspense and dark comedy woven together in a story that is almost Stephen King-like. The moody cinematography from Jorgen Johansson is excellent and the film moves at a slow pace but never drags down and keeps your interest throughout. I would give this an 8.5 out of 10 and recommend it.