Jojo Rabbit

Comedy is a very hard genre, especially if you are joking about subjects that may cause strong reactions. But i personally believe we need to be able to laugh, at all kinds of subjects. It can help us get through hard times in life, and make any day more fun. There are a lot of great comedies i could mention in here, but i decided to bring up 2 titles that are considered to be classics. Let us begin with the 2004 film known as Anchorman - The Legend Of Ron Burgundy. This is without a doubt one of the best acting performances comedian Will Ferrell have given us so far, as the crazy news anchor Ron Burgundy who does the news in his own unique way. Anchorman makes fun of the news industry, political issues, society issues as well as news anchors in general in a brilliant way. If you have not seen it, let me just tell you a little bit about the story. News anchor Ron Burgundy is the anchorman for the local San Diego television station KVWN channel 4. Here he works together with his friends lead field reporter Brian Fantana ( Paul Rudd ), sportcaster Champ Kind ( David Koechner ) and meteorologist Brick Tamaland ( Steve Carell ). Station director Ed Harken ( Fred Willards ) informs the news team that they have retained their long-held status as the highest-rated news program in San Diego. The team celebrate with a big party, where Ron tries to pick up the beautiful girl Veronica Corningstone ( Christina Applegate ) without any luck. But the news team is not happy, when it is announced that Veronica will be a part of their newsteam. Anchorman is filled with crazy, hillarious moments with wild personalities who act like spoiled children. A must see on DVD or Blu Ray. The next film i have in mind is the 1996 comedy Happy Gilmore. One of the true 90´s classic comedys with comedian Adam Sandler, who plays the character Happy Gilmore, a rejected hockey player who turns out to strike very long shots with a golf ball. He becomes so popular that he is invited to real competitions, but not without problems, He has a bad temper and don´t like following rules. If you did not think a comedy with golf could be fun, then i guarantee you will laugh with this film. I still consider this film to be one of the best comedies that Adam Sandler has ever made. Since last year i was hearing a lot of buzz on the new nazi comedy Jojo Rabbit, that looked like a really good time from the trailer. Making fun of Nazi Germany, is it possible to do so ? I just had to watch Jojo Rabbit to find out. Is this the funniest film in many years, or does Jojo Rabbit fail to deliver a good solid comedy ?

Johannes " Jojo " Betzler ( Thomas Griffin David ) is a young boy living in Nazi Germany during the later stages of World War II with his mother Rosie ( Scarlett Johansson ). His absent father is supposedly serving on the Italian Front but has lost all contact, and his older sister Inge has died of influenza. Since Jojo does not have any real Close friends, he talks with his imaginary nazi friend Adolf ( Taika Waititi ) who gives Jojo advices, and support him through rough times. After being a part of an incident at Hitler youth training camp, Jojo is given a task of spreading propaganda leaflets throughout the town, and collecting scrap for the war effort. Alone at home one day, Jojo discovers Elsa Korrs ( Thomasin McKenzie ), a teenage Jewish girl and his late sister´s former classmate, hiding upstairs. Jojo threaten to turn her over to the Gestapo, but Elsa warns that his mother Rosie would be killed for hiding her. At first Jojo can´t understand why his mother is hiding a jew in their home, but as time goes by he is beginning to get to know Elsa, and that she may not be as dangerous as he was taught to think about jews. Jojo begins to realise, that maybe he is not the nazi he thought he was, and he is especially worried about the safety of Elsa.

If you have been looking for a comedy that is not afraid to joke about sensitive subjects, then look no further. Jojo Rabbit knows what kind of audience this film was made for, and that is an audience who appreciate dark humour with a touch of political satire as well. I realise that some people might consider this an insult to certain people, but i feel that we must be able to joke about history. If we can´t use comedy in different time periods, why joke about anything at all ? So it is great that we can still get comedies that dare to bring up historical subjects. I never thought i could laugh a lot at Adolf Hitler, but the performance in this film as the dictator from actor Taika Waititi ( who also directed this film ) is absolutely brilliant. He is the funniest Hitler character ever in a comedy, and his crazy body language, including his hillarious dialogue is fantastic. I never thought i would say this, but if Adolf was as fun as this version to hang out with, i would party with him any day ( a bit of irony, not serious ). Child actor Roman Griffin Davis as the young nazi boy Jojo, does a wonderful performance. It becomes clear that Jojo who loves nazis more than anything. Of course he will learn after a while, that jews are not bad people at all. Speaking of jews, young actress Thomasin McKenzie ( who you might recognize from the Netflix film The King ) gives a really good performance as the hiding jew Elsa. Thomasin manage to bring out a personality in Elsa, that anyone would fall in love with. Actress Scarlett Johansson as Jojo´s mother Rosie, gives us of another wonderful performance, as she always does. I have to mention child actor Archie Yates as nazi boy Yorki. He is so funny, and charming, that i guarantee you won´t stop laughing. Director Taika Waititi ( who directed the wonderful New Zeeland film Boy ) have found a way to make fun of nazis and World War II, without trying to hurt anyone ). Jojo Rabbit is a comedy that manage to balance satire and war issues in a very clever way. This is one of those films that stands out from the ordinary releases, and i must say i had a really good time with this film.

Rating: DDDD