In 2013, Danish comedy Klown rocked our shores. An
adaptation of one of Denmark’s most successful TV comedies, the film was hailed
as the Danish equivalent of Curb Your Enthusiasm and The
Hangover, with its cold mockumentary style and shocking cringe humor.
While I did not manage to see Klown in either of its forms, as a
huge comedy nerd I’ve been terribly excited to catch this year’s sequel to the
franchise: Klown Forever.
The film continues to explore the lives of Casper and Frank,
two washed-up Danish comedians based on fictionalized versions of Klown’s
real-life creators and stars. The two characters have been through a lot together,
we learn. They used to be inseparable best friends, but more recently Frank has
been concerned with his life as a family man at home, maturing him into a
person who aging party-animal Casper no longer gets along with. When Casper decides to up and move his career
oversees to America, Frank feels the need to take a trip over and patch things
up with his former bestie.
Having seen the film, I now understand the caparisons to Hangover
and Curb,
as the film seeks out every possible opportunity to have Frank say the wrong
thing and make everyone around him uncomfortable. However, to my western
comedic sensibilities it seems that the difference between those films and Klown
Forever is our modern American insistence on subverting expectations.
The popular comedy of our country relies heavily on anti-jokes and
unconventional takes on moments we’ve seen before, whereas Klown Forever knows what
jokes it wants to say, and isn’t concerned about taking an especially new or
creative path to get to it. There are several obvious tropes and setups used in
this film that are played off in a far more sincere manner than I’ve ever seen in
an English language movie. The film is also incredibly dry. It took me a good
half hour before I came to a scene I laughed out loud at. Perhaps there was
something lost in translation with the captions, or maybe you just can’t
communicate the timing of awkward humor through subtitle. Either way, something
about the film just didn’t land right with me. Are these traits particular to
Danish humor or is that just uniquely Klown Forever? Ignorant American
that I am, I can’t say, but I did find it a little hard to get past
nonetheless.
Ultimately, there are some moments in Klown Forever that are
just straight funny regardless of language. Unfortunately, they are surrounded
by some very questionable setups that I suppose were aiming for a shock-value
laugh that just didn’t land for me at all.
Again, it’s hard to say if these are actually jokes that don’t land, or
just once that don’t land to an American. Perhaps a native speaker would enjoy
this movie more, but it left me a little disappointed.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
