Truly Dreadful Film

Let's be realistic.

An Exercise In Nonsense

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

An absolutely delightful show. I am convinced that Frank's adventures in Lillehammer are nothing more than the internal workings of Silvio Dante's mind as he lay in a coma in his hospital bed. From "whaddaya here, whaddaya say" to Pauline Walnuts and Jimmy April showing up, not to mention Gabriella Dante, this has to be the explanation. There is also the use of the Sopranos theme song.Whatever! This is such a great show -it's a Norwegian show, not an American one but it is full of wit and style. Enjoy.

This show is awesome. Very original. To take a small town in Norway and put a New York mobster from the witness protection program there. Then watch the way he starts to bring his back ground into this sleepy little town is just brilliant. It really does make for a very original show. There are some awesomely funny moments, throw in some mob violence, Islamic terror, Brit football hooligans and you have a show like no other. A must watch.

I give it 2 for the idea. Other than that, it is insulting to Americans, Norwegians, Muslims, women, intelligence and comedy. It's even insulting to gangsters. The central character is a boorish, bigoted, creepy creep who stalks a much younger woman, calls a Muslim character a 'towel-head' (I don't care if that character was portrayed as disrespectful to women; that entire sequence came off as disgustingly ignorant and bigoted and felt like we're supposed to be in on it with mafiaman, slapping the guy around and enjoying it because he's Muslim, not because he was a rude misogynist.) The show is an embarrassment to Americans. Truly, I am embarrassed for America watching this. I am embarrassed for the writers too, who I believe are Scandinavians, and that is a great shame coming from a part of the world currently delivering some of the best crime fiction TV on the planet. Fail.

My wife had just signed up for Netflix a few days earlier and while she was visiting her sister one weekend, I decided to have a look through the various listings. I recognized the name "Lilihammer" from the Olympics about twenty years back and decided to take a quick peak. The moment I saw Steven Van Zandt, I knew this was something I was going to have to watch. I was caught up in the story immediately. Initially, the series has a "Sopranos" flavour, but as it unwinds, you realize that's partly because of the mob presence, and partly because everyone remembers Steven as "Silvio", the Soprano's consigliere. The appearance of Tony Sirico, "Pauly Walnuts Gualtieri" in later episodes, reinforces the "Sopranos" undercurrent. That said, the series does not have the savage feel that the "Sopranos" has. Lilyhammer is a dark comedy. You often find yourself laughing in the face of a murderously menacing situation. Whoever came up with the premise of the series was a genius. You take an outcast mob turncoat, with a price on his head, place him in a quiet Norwegian town that once hosted the Olympics. The moment he arrives in this quiet little town, he decides to do something other than waste away and, using all of his mob learned skills, becomes the owner of a successful nightclub. He surrounds himself with oddball Norwegians and becomes something of a "Don" who endears himself to many who know him by doing almost as much good as bad. Many of the situations in which he and his "crew" find themselves, are hilarious, while others are menacing and deadly. I watched the entire 24 episodes over the weekend. Such a wonderful series only comes along once every decade. Congratulations to Steven Van Zandt.