Naive, talkative Hoffi and mouthy Lehmi are as different as can be. But this doesn't dampen their friendship. When they wake up one morning in the middle of Dortmund Zoo instead of in their beds among the water buffaloes, it doesn't upset them, because the orderly lives of their fellow human beings aren't their thing anyway. What's much worse is that Hoffi has got it into his head to get a birthday present for his sister on this beautiful summer's day of all days, when you could actually be relaxing in the park with a crate of beer. The two lovable slobs embark on an odyssey through the city, at the end of which they lose sight of the present but have found their dream girls.
Acting
Knüfken and Preuß's loose, improvised chemistry feels genuinely lived-in.
Production
Dortmund Zoo opening sets the perfect absurdist tone.
Director
Matthias Lehmann
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This is pure 'Ruhrpott' cinema — the industrial German region's working-class humor, rarely exported beyond domestic audiences.
Director Matthias Lehmann was part of the 1990s German indie wave that rejected polished Hollywood comedy for regional authenticity; the Dortmund Zoo scene was shot without permits during actual opening hours.
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