"Drei Väter sind besser als keiner" is a German television film from 2016, so not too old, not too new and the title here means "Three fathers are better than zero". Well, not the greatest title by any means and you could guess from it already that you are in for a pretty weak outcome overall. So let me say it right away: Best is if you skip these slightly under 1.5 hours, usual running time for small screen releases from my country. It is not unusual that these projects have more than one writer, but seeing three is really a bit of an exception here and I genuinely wonder if not one of them was able to see how far deep down south this was heading here. Apparently not and this proves that there is not much talent (if any) in any of these people's veins sadly. A look at their bodies of works confirms that, even if admittedly those also could have been worse. I cannot really say anything better about director Till Franzen here. His filmography is about on the same level. Mostly quantity over quality. As for the cast, there are some names that German film buffs will at least recognize. Julia Hartmann has been in a lot despite her still relatively young age, even if I still would say she is more memorable for her looks than her talent. Not only in this film, but in general when it comes to her career. Suzanne von Borsody plays Hartmann's character's mother and she is always easy to identify. Same is true for Marie Gruber, even if I don't think she is a decent actress at all and that is already a very gentle way to put what I think of her. Pannzner I think I have come across in other films too, maybe Kastner as well. One I definitely remember is Tobias Licht because I watched "Unter Uns" for a while back then (not too proud of it) and he played a bit of a villain on that show a long time ago. But looking at how many actors from said show cannot even get cast anymore, being in films like this one here, no matter how bad it may be, is still a bit of a success for him. Other than that, a description applies that we hear on one occasion here, namely that Licht plays a character that could have had every woman, so well he is certainly also considerably more about looks than about versatility, but this is kinda true about almost every cast member here to be honest. At least the title is kinda telling and if you take a look at the photo here on imdb with the three guys and the boy, it is easy to understand what direction we are heading here, namely the one with a kid and nobody knows for sure who the kid's dad is. Okay, not the first time that you hear about a plot like this I am sure, but definitely one of the worst times seeing how they executed the idea here overall.
Okay, now let me mention a few scenes and moments that make it obvious how this is not only a bad movie, but a horrible movie indeed. First of all, the overall plot. I really hoped that they would not be heading down the path in the end that they simply don't care who the biological father is and that all simply care for the boy. Okay. They did. Obviously. It's so against everything before that, the core idea that she goes back home to inform the men they may have a son, the men's determination in finding out whose kid he really is and even the boy saying on one occasion this is what all is about, to find out. In the end, it does not matter. Terribly unrealistic. Of course, these films also always have extremely unrealistic happy endings and this is no exception here as we see one male character (one of the three potential fathers of course) find out about something his now-girlfriend did years ago, which was a big break of trust and as a consequence said man ends up in a happily romantic relationship with the female protagonist. No period of being single after breaking up, taking care of oneself, but boom let's jump right into the next relationship. Also there is the story about the mother. I generally think von Borsody is an okay actress, at least better than all other cast members here really, even if that does not mean a lot, but the way her character was written here was probably even more stupid than everything else. The entire story about the conflict between mother and daughter because of their troubling past feels so fake and for the sake of it that it is not even funny. And yes, we are supposed to believe their conflicts were major, but not for too long because they are miraculously served in the end too. And after a pseudo-dramatic idea of the daughter leaving immediately full of rage, they get along well again, of course too because grandma sees ma as a better mother than herself. Also von Borsody is perhaps in the one most horrible scene of the entire film (and that means quite something). I am of course talking about the scene at the bakery near the end with Gruber's character, who is a bit of a main antagonist here and how of course that very moments the third potential father comes inside, the son of Gruber's character, and has his coming-out. Yep indeed, they went all in there with him kissing hiy gay partner right in front of the eyes of his mother. Charming. Again, very much over the top. Subtlety is nothing you are going to find in this film at all. Not one bit. Embarrassing. Also these films frequently stand and (certainly more frequently) fall with the way the very young characters are displayed here. This is another area where they come painfully short. I could mention half a dozen examples, but I will just go with one for each child: For the boy when his mother says she is not sure if he even annts to see his potential father. And he shows up and says something like "yes he does". And for the girl towards the end when she asks why her brother has three days and she has no dad basically. And how in the sense of a happy ending, they immediately afterwards had her say something like at least she has her mother. Conflicts shall not exist when the closing credits move closer. Nothing shall remain unsolved. Everybody shall be happy. Apart from the bad guys obviously. More stuff I struggled with was the constant talking about how the little family is not like everybody else, which is shoved into our faces since minute one really. Pretty annoying, especially because it's not true. Single mothers with two kids, even from twwo different fathers, are absolutely not uncommon these days and certainly weren#t five years ago when this film got made. They even emphasized this idea with the black sheep. Talk about using a symbolism/metaphor in the most try-hard sense possible, also with how the sheep is there with them at the very end far away from where it usually is. It was ridiculous. Extremely ridiculous. Okay, I guess you get my point now. This film sucked a lot. The key elements of the story as well as the subplots. It's all a mess, no matter which perspective you take. Clearly they were going for heart here, but the quality is on the level of a dagger to the heart. Extremely nauseating. Highly not recommended. Pretty pathetic that this film will probably on national television for another 10-15 years at least. Your GEZ money at work folks. Stand up. Oh yes, one final thing that needs to be mentioned is how literally the men wantg to buy themselves out on one occasion, but minutes later are all keen on getting to know the boy that could be their son. It's just so stupid, so back-and-forth. Stay far, far away from this one here. Oh yes, I almost forgot the "Brötchen/Flittchen" inclusion. So terrible too, terrible enough that it stood out next to the other slightly less terrible stuff. And well, having sex with three men at basically the same time, so she does not know who the father is, they may not be wrong accusing her of being this.
Okay, now let me mention a few scenes and moments that make it obvious how this is not only a bad movie, but a horrible movie indeed. First of all, the overall plot. I really hoped that they would not be heading down the path in the end that they simply don't care who the biological father is and that all simply care for the boy. Okay. They did. Obviously. It's so against everything before that, the core idea that she goes back home to inform the men they may have a son, the men's determination in finding out whose kid he really is and even the boy saying on one occasion this is what all is about, to find out. In the end, it does not matter. Terribly unrealistic. Of course, these films also always have extremely unrealistic happy endings and this is no exception here as we see one male character (one of the three potential fathers of course) find out about something his now-girlfriend did years ago, which was a big break of trust and as a consequence said man ends up in a happily romantic relationship with the female protagonist. No period of being single after breaking up, taking care of oneself, but boom let's jump right into the next relationship. Also there is the story about the mother. I generally think von Borsody is an okay actress, at least better than all other cast members here really, even if that does not mean a lot, but the way her character was written here was probably even more stupid than everything else. The entire story about the conflict between mother and daughter because of their troubling past feels so fake and for the sake of it that it is not even funny. And yes, we are supposed to believe their conflicts were major, but not for too long because they are miraculously served in the end too. And after a pseudo-dramatic idea of the daughter leaving immediately full of rage, they get along well again, of course too because grandma sees ma as a better mother than herself. Also von Borsody is perhaps in the one most horrible scene of the entire film (and that means quite something). I am of course talking about the scene at the bakery near the end with Gruber's character, who is a bit of a main antagonist here and how of course that very moments the third potential father comes inside, the son of Gruber's character, and has his coming-out. Yep indeed, they went all in there with him kissing hiy gay partner right in front of the eyes of his mother. Charming. Again, very much over the top. Subtlety is nothing you are going to find in this film at all. Not one bit. Embarrassing. Also these films frequently stand and (certainly more frequently) fall with the way the very young characters are displayed here. This is another area where they come painfully short. I could mention half a dozen examples, but I will just go with one for each child: For the boy when his mother says she is not sure if he even annts to see his potential father. And he shows up and says something like "yes he does". And for the girl towards the end when she asks why her brother has three days and she has no dad basically. And how in the sense of a happy ending, they immediately afterwards had her say something like at least she has her mother. Conflicts shall not exist when the closing credits move closer. Nothing shall remain unsolved. Everybody shall be happy. Apart from the bad guys obviously. More stuff I struggled with was the constant talking about how the little family is not like everybody else, which is shoved into our faces since minute one really. Pretty annoying, especially because it's not true. Single mothers with two kids, even from twwo different fathers, are absolutely not uncommon these days and certainly weren#t five years ago when this film got made. They even emphasized this idea with the black sheep. Talk about using a symbolism/metaphor in the most try-hard sense possible, also with how the sheep is there with them at the very end far away from where it usually is. It was ridiculous. Extremely ridiculous. Okay, I guess you get my point now. This film sucked a lot. The key elements of the story as well as the subplots. It's all a mess, no matter which perspective you take. Clearly they were going for heart here, but the quality is on the level of a dagger to the heart. Extremely nauseating. Highly not recommended. Pretty pathetic that this film will probably on national television for another 10-15 years at least. Your GEZ money at work folks. Stand up. Oh yes, one final thing that needs to be mentioned is how literally the men wantg to buy themselves out on one occasion, but minutes later are all keen on getting to know the boy that could be their son. It's just so stupid, so back-and-forth. Stay far, far away from this one here. Oh yes, I almost forgot the "Brötchen/Flittchen" inclusion. So terrible too, terrible enough that it stood out next to the other slightly less terrible stuff. And well, having sex with three men at basically the same time, so she does not know who the father is, they may not be wrong accusing her of being this.
