Recommendations of the Editorial team
“When the biggest campaign in Germany comes calling, you can’t send a dwarf there.” With these words, Bernd Stromberg (Christoph Maria Herbst) comments on the start of a large-scale advertising campaign for McDonald’s and its Monopoly, whose biggest star is of course himself.
A six-part mockumentary series with the title has been running since November 1st “Dad is kicking ass”clearly based on the model of the funny “The Office” clone. In the first episode, Stromberg visits a McDonald’s branch and is given a milkshake. Of course he grabs it straight away.
The story behind the story is – as we know from the series – a bit meta: Stromberg brings himself into play as a testimonial for the campaign and also compares himself to the biggest gift giver (“I’m a completely different caliber than him…”).
Stromberg hits one (or two, or three)
The whole thing feels a little like a parody of the parody, especially since Stromberg is constantly spewing out Stromberg sentences (“But that’s how it is with legends, they don’t ask, they just do”) and acts as sexist and clumsy as ever.
Of course, there is also a reason for the unusual crossover. On December 4th, “Stromberg – The New Film,” another screen adventure with the smug office sociopath, will premiere. It was directed by Arne Feldhusen, who also developed the series and is considered one of the best comedy authors in Germany. By the way, the main actor caused a few laughs in his star role during the Corona period.
Whether you find Stromberg’s nasty sayings, who also invents a McBernd, funny in connection with the fast-food restaurant chain is of course a matter of taste. Even the agency scenes in the second episode are rather comical. But the campaign does whet your appetite for the film.