The most obvious comparison for Mikkel Nørgaard’s Klown would be to call it the Danish version of The Hangover, albeit with a bit more heart and a bit more outlandishness, if that’s possible. Based on the Danish sitcom of the same name, Klown’s story involves Frank Hvarn (playing himself) attempting to prove to his doubting, pregnant girlfriend that he’s fit to be a father. In order to accomplish this, Frank takes her twelve-year-old nephew Bo (Marcusz Jess Petersen) on the raucous and raunchy canoe trip he has been planning with his debauched best friend, Casper Christensen (playing himself). Naturally, hijinks ensue and Frank must find a way to impress Bo as a father figure all while playing Casper’s perverted games, including sex with virtually every woman they encounter.
Klown’s opening act is rather strong and develops our characters really quickly with great visuals and solid acting. We’re witnesses to Frank’s genuine surprise at learning his girlfriend is pregnant and when she rationalizes her not telling him by explaining her doubts about his abilities, there’s a real emotionality behind the scenes. The camerawork aids this character work by staying a good distance away from the scene, putting everyone on display, and generally looking more like a true-to-life documentary in the Dogme 95 style. Even with the funky, presumably European humor involving a book club (I just didn’t get it), the film’s beginning is a treat but it sets one up for disappointment.
The filmmakers (Nørgaard, Christensen, and Hvarn) shuck most of the nuanced drama and humor entering the body of the story and rely on cheap, nasty gags to drive the film forward. Jokes about underage sex, rape, and the insertion of fingers into anuses would all be fine by me if they didn’t completely overtake the nice story that had been developing. Frank is reduced to on-the-noise pouting about fatherhood and taking care of Bo as he deals with the various messes Casper gets them into. It’s a shame the story ta
kes a backseat to the bizarre humor, as it even derails the cliché not-storybook ending typical of such foreign fare. I speak, of course, about the film’s pseudo-climax involving the most offensive of scenes – one that even I had to double-take at – in which Frank and Casper blackmail young Bo by taking a picture of his miniscule penis with a cell phone. To reiterate, while I didn’t laugh aloud at the humor, it’s not the offensiveness that brings the movie down; it is the offensive focus on grossout gags and over-the-top comedy instead of a good narrative that makes Klown no better than a sequel to an 80s sex comedy.
Mikkel Nørgaard’s Klown has a ton of potential heading into the first act break but loses steam as it prioritizes dark, disturbing humor over a sense of character and dramatic flow. The film gives us a look at comedy that would never play in mainstream America, but forgets to give us a look at a real, budding father-son relationship as well.
Rating: A flawed narrative overshadowed by ridiculous and dark laughs unfortunately makes Klown into a soulless, one-note circus. (4/10)
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