Hammerman Ikon

Hammerman Ikon Film Guide

Napapiirin sankarit (Lapland Odyssey)
2010

Director: Dome Karukoski
Cast: Jussi Vatanen, Jasper Pääkkönen, Timo Lavikainen, Pamela Tola, Kari Ketonen, Miia Nuutila, Ulla Tapaninen, Anna-Leena Härkönen

In remote wintery Lapland, jobs and money are scarce. Janne is a layabout whose fed-up girlfriend gives him one more chance to get his act together. Janne and his two friends go out to buy a digibox, but the simple task turns into an epic nocturnal misadventure. This Finnish comedy kicks off with a rather enjoyable prologue, which uses dark humour to depict the plight of the Lappish men. When the actual story begins, the film runs into two gigantic stumbling blocks. Firstly, it expects me to root for these three dim-witted deadbeats. Secondly and most importantly, their misfortunes are not remotely funny. Pekko Pesonen's script mixes ethnic clichés (Finnish gloom, Swedish beauty and Russian wealth) with the current Hollywood trend, which has made deadbeat losers irresistible to beautiful women. The concoction is incredibly dull and occasionally infuriating. Followed by numerous sequels.