Achtung, fertig, Charlie!

I have no idea why the Swiss themselves seem to dislike the film. I work in the industry, and when saw this, I was very pleasantly surprised. I only understood the subtitles, as is the case for almost all foreign films with me, and this was by far one of the funniest.

So, I'm not really doing a fair comparison to Hollywood films. But if I was, I'd say it was somewhere between Eurotrip meets American pie in terms of quality and comedic value. In terms of Swiss films, its by the far the best and only Swiss film I've ever seen.

Its the closest I've ever been to the Swiss army, but from what I understand, its a joke. And this film makes a great parody of it. Plus there is a token romance in it, Romeo and Juliet style, very tense.

This film is so bad, you can't imagine. The acting is terrible, even worse than in third class soap operas. An it is a shame that this movie was the most successful in the past 20 years in Switzerland. The interactions between the soldiers didn't make any sense at all. The story could have been taken out from a bravo photo-story, the dialogues were as wooden as Treebeard and the plot holes were bigger than the black hole in the middle of our galaxy. But nowadays it doesn't need much to satisfy the audience. The actors were handsome for example the former Miss Switzerland and the main character was even hung (woah!!) and there certainly was much abuse of drugs. That's real cool man! Particularly for 12 and 13 year old teens. But the media created an atmosphere in witch you was not allowed to reject the film because they manipulated the peer group dynamics by telling implicitly that you are a nerd if you don't go along with the other `sheep' and say.yes that is exactly what it was like when I was in the army/ that's exactly what I'm going to do when I must go to the army.. to every cheesy action that had to do with drugs and coolness. And don't think I like the army. I was there and I hated it but this film is worse than cleaning up the sticky toilet with a teeth brush (which I was forced to do because I offended an lieutenant) It is not necessary for every film to be sophisticated. Sometimes you only want to be entertained for a few hours and forget about problems and I think its not a bad thing. But this kind of films influence teenagers to much by showing them a cool lifestyle which in fact is only stupid and turns them into brainless ignorant and egocentric idiots. But since I now that my opinion isn't very popular I will be quiet now and recommend you to avoid this terrible flick at any costs and for that to save your wits!

2/10

(sorry for my bad English)

If you served in the Swiss Army, you WILL recognize yourself in this movie... and will enjoy watching it. You get the feeling of: "Yeah, that's how it is... oh, yes, I remember that exercise... That guy is just like our CO (or whoever)... oh, yeah, the Grenadier vs. Füsilier antagonism..." and so on..

If you never did serve in the Swiss Army, you probably won't understand half the jokes... and then the movie is just plain boring.

This comedy is decidedly Swiss. You have to know the Swiss Army to understand it.

I loved it, but I did serve. (I recognized myself most in the character of Korporal Wyss...) Most of my friends who are not Swiss or managed to worm out of military training didn't think it fun... not because it was inaccurate, but because they didn't understand the context.

This film makes "American Pie" a sophisticated movie! No further comment needed. Humor is cheap, dialogues are stupid and the cast is awkward. Every cliché is used several times without any original twist. And far the worst, the movie turns out to be more catholic than the Pope. It's so sad.

I really don't see why so many people are slamming this movie for its admittedly formulaic style. its a teen comedy, why are you expecting edgy scripts and high class thespians? its a piece of light relief intended to amuse for a couple of hours!

the film itself may not have the most original of premises and DUH its not realistic that failing to reply to your call up for military service probably won't have you taken away from your bride on the wedding day - its called a plot device, yeah? the fact remains that it is a genuinely funny movie that certainly matches eurotrip or American pie for sheer quirkiness. it has some moments that don't perhaps gel so well but overall its a good film that will provide you with a few proper laugh-out-loud moments. Don't watch it and expect it to change your life, but do expect it to challenge your stereotypes of chocolate cuckoos cheese and neutrality. Switzerland is still very much a "traditional" society where women aren't as well respected as men and there is a bit of gender inequality and this is highlighted. the military is seen by many swiss people as a period where they have to turn up yeah, but the weekends are a huge excuse for getting drunk/stoned with your squad-mates and this film shows this admirably.

Great cinema no. Funny? hell yes.