Life Is Life

I will admit honestly that I sat down to watch the movie with very low expectations and at first I thought it was a mistake because I laughed a few times and even remembered the line: "You lie and f*** behind our backs!". However, then everything went from bad to worse and not even Frequency 1 could save it. Screenwriter Martin Horský apparently likes Belmondo because he wrote the Czech version of Man from Acapulco, but the result was truly terrible. Well, in any case, I am richer for the experience, although it is one of those experiences that you don't want to repeat (being bitten by any animal, having a burned-down apartment, visiting an executor, stepping on a sea urchin, and so on). (08/04/2021)

I liked this a lot. The whole family was pretty wild, but in a good way (when you're just watching it and not part of it). The filmmakers lightly poked fun at the common prejudices in Czech society. And it was funny, not lame. The only thing I didn’t enjoy much was František’s daydreaming. I would have shortened that or maybe cut it out completely (the poorly done car chases are boring). But otherwise good, really good. (06/07/2015)

A comedy with a lack of functional humor, a spectacularly inconsistent atmosphere and a brutally incoherent and random plot. It is sad that Czech filmmakers can make a commercial film at a high technical level (there are even action scenes, car chases and ninjas in this), but they have a terrible problem filling it with meaningful, or at least coherent content. Most of the characters, the situations they experience, and the motifs would better suit a depressing drama, while others are parodies, or even crazy. However, the result is that the film has no genre. It does not entertain, impress, nor does it provide a story that would fit the title of the film, "Life Is Life", because it seems false, unnatural and soulless. (21/05/2015)

I gawped cluelessly. I squeezed up against my girlfriend in fear and asked her, horrified, if life was really like this. If it makes no sense and the people that pass through life have no common sense, behave illogically, others cheat and members of the same family are as sharp as razors to each other. My idea of a comedy is something completely different - this was more like a horror. I don’t like this kind of movie and Frank is Ondra Vetchý’s worst ever role. Only the foul-mouthed parrot made me laugh. (02/01/2016)

This is a bad attempt at making a Czech version of The Man from Acapulco, where at least the scenes that take place in Vetchý's fantasy have a little bit of pizzazz. Otherwise, it's a classic effort to show that family is the most important thing and that everything works out fine if people love each other. Or at least that they will continue to live in their "security". (16/10/2017)