Over Fingers

Petr Kolečko is perfect at taking the superficial, chauvinistic, and sexist elements of contemporary society and pasting them into entertaining scenarios. Yet they must not be filmed by superficial directors, such as himself. The plot about the (non)merger of the beach volleyball duo is built so intricately and complexly that even Nolan looks on enviously. I was really embarrassed to be watching this at all because it's exactly one step ahead of entering the soft-porn genre, with the lure always being a woman's ass in a swimsuit that's supposed to end up in Jiří Langmajer’s bed, whose penis is the hard MacGuffin of Czech cinema. It's the kind of folksy fun that fills movie theaters, but at its core, it's exactly the kind of cheap schlock that has that polished glitz that can be seen through quickly, and you don't even have to have a gender studies degree to see it. I would have found this awkward at the age of 20 at the latest. Let alone now, when I'm three years younger than Kolečko. PS: That brilliant final speech by Vojtěch Dyk about burning wood is miles behind the rest of the film, as is the whole character of Hynek, who is one big running joke. (02/11/2020)

For every ten terrible Czech comedies, there is a good one, and that is without a doubt Above Fingers. The story is nothing interesting, but the unusual setting of volleyball and especially the actors, with Jiří Langmajer playing his typical role of a womanizer in a love triangle between Petra Hřebíčková and Denisa Nesvačilová, who are perhaps the hottest girls on the Czech comedy scene. It's nice to watch, especially when the girls are only wearing bikinis, and there are plenty of funny lines as well. 7/10. (23/01/2020)

It would have been better without Kolečko. Apart from the attractive scenes connected with the ballgame (cut to a minimum), this has nothing to offer. Langmajer is completely wrong for this film and the fact that he has nothing special to offer in terms of acting makes that even more obvious. As is the habit in Czech films, the characters are just dumb and behave irrationally simply for the purpose of creating supposedly funny situations. (31/10/2020)

I didn't expect anything at all and I got something different than a classic Czech romcom (which is an anti-genre in and of itself). Fortunately, the film doesn't play at being something it’s not. Beach volleyball is a look at girls in bikinis, and there is no shortage of butts (ladies' and men's) or lush breasts. The cast is typical rolling stock, the co-production with Slovakia added a few less familiar faces like Marián Miezga, and Ostrava didn't forget about Štěpán Kozub for a change. Given that it’s full of relationship platitudes in a sports setting, the result is at least less harmful than vulgarities like Theory of Tiger or Patrimony, which beat the target audience over the head with nonsense and stereotypes of unreal proportions. (07/11/2020)

In the series created by screenwriter Petr Kolečko, Jan Prušinovský at least often acts as a creative authority revising his screenplays and giving them a theatrically firmer and more believable form. In Kolečko's films, however, this authority is noticeably lacking and the result is often not even remotely funny, sexist and stupid nonsense (see also Bikers or Fifty). The comedy Over Fingers is no exception, and Kolečko also directed it (which was not originally planned and was an emergency solution), and this certainly didn’t help. The plot of the film is appalling and chauvinistic, and the film also has fundamental problems with the narrative pace, unconvincing dialogues, flat and clumsy implementation of many scenes, as well as forced or, at best, unconvincing work with humour. Women play the role of irrationally thinking physical objects designed for visual and sexual pleasure, including two of the main characters, who are destined to end up in bed with a man whom a few hours ago they considered an old, disgusting pervert (but then they smiled at his remark about their asses). The men behave like brutes, but they are not punished or reprimanded for it in any way, with the women submitting to them without hesitation and immediately forgiving any of their wrongdoings. Langmajer's character is portrayed as an experienced seducer who eventually gets any woman he wants without having to try particularly hard, but at the same time he is a stoned, manipulative bum who shows his penis in public without anyone asking for it and is convinced that he sleeps with women for their own good. When a woman happens to object to this, she is considered to be hysterical or to be overreacting (there is a bizarre scene in which an angry woman is offered a glass of juice, and instead of knocking it off the table, because she is a volleyball player she smashes it downward with her palm, cutting her tendons). This film is not even close pleasant summer relaxation fun. (27/08/2019)

Watching this film was like riding on a roller coaster. The beginning was quite entertaining, and I had some good laughs. Moving the tractor was hilarious, so I thought it would turn out to be a success, but... after a while, the story became weirdly silly, the plot was really dumb at times and the attempt at a Czech Big Lebowski just didn't do it for me. (25/02/2020)

Watching a comedy where I have to perform almost superhuman feats to get a laugh is probably not the ideal way to spend your time. When it comes to Over Fingers, if there's any humor at all, it mostly borders on awkwardness. The plot also drags incredibly. Moreover, the story is absolutely predictable and without a shred of invention, which in the case of Petr Kolečko is quite astonishing to me. Perhaps it was only because of Jiří Langmajer and Petra Hřebíčková that I watched it to the end, even though their acting was full of awkward performances. (35%) (29/11/2020)