Horst in Translation ([email protected])
"Popcorn und Himbeereis" or "Popcorn and Ice Cream" is a West German 90-minute movie from 1978, so this one will soon have its 40th anniversary. If you read the names of Austrian director Franz Josef Gottlieb and Israeli lead actor Zachi Noy ("Lemon Popsicle"), you will know exactly what to expect here: something we in German call "Klamauk", a sex-oriented comedy with lots of female nudity that has no scenes of intercourse though that would classify it as porn. Instead, it is all along the humor from Noy's movie series (fittingly it also has a sweet dish for the title) I already mentioned. It's pretty harmless overall, even if we see bare breasts and full frontal nudity from women. But to me it always felt as if it was about the comedy only and everything else is just means to making it a funny and entertaining watch. Sadly, it is none of these things. The writing is bad from start to finish, the characters are too many and they are not elaborated on properly in terms of who they are and what they do. The humor relies mostly on situational comedy, but it's very rarely working. Noy probably still elevates the material as he is a funny guy, even if he always plays the same characters. It's another trash film by Gottlieb and there is no real reason to check it out. I personally give it a thumbs-down and not even the girls were hot, at least the majority was not. On a final side-note: In the German title it refers to the ice cream having raspberry flavor.
