Land of Love (2003) User Reviews

Waste of your money and time

[Pehu · 5/10 · 27 June 2004]

The movie really isn't much fun to watch. The story is a bit too unbelievable even for a comedy. It has a couple of points where I even laughed, but the parts which made me cry happen more often. So I would rate this as 5/10 movie.

I'd say this is a flop to very good finish actors... but the story just plainly sucks. These characters are not good enough and the actors are not really suitable for comedy. Althou the appearance of Vesa Vierikko will save some of the charm of this movie :)

Rent it, but don't waste your money by going to the movies to watch this.

Pleasant viewing but humor?

[Shaolin_Apu · 4/10 · 1 November 2005]

***SPOILERS, or just one.***

'Vieraalla maalla' has a very interesting plot: Tuomas is collecting material for his doctoral thesis, which concentrates on foreigners living in Finland and their relations to the Finnish people. To gather as authentic material as possible for his doctoral thesis, Tuomas disguises himself as a foreigner and starts to record his first hand experiences. What follows is a true comedy of errors.

Even if 'Vieraalla maalla' is an unique Finnish comedy film, it doesn't have to mean a great movie. Making a film with actors like Björklund, Haapasalo, Vierikko and Väänänen (plus a brief cameo by Kai Lehtinen) should mean a great movie, but I think 'Vieraalla maalla' lacks to benefit from any of these famous actors. The storyline of the movie is brilliant, but somehow the entity manages to be so boring viewing that you'll soon start to wonder how it was possible to create such a crappy film with this plot and these actors. It is difficult to laugh at the jokes of the film if they rather make you cry all the time. And there is this 'mandatory nudity scene' too.

The purpose of the filmmaker's has admittedly been to make a good film and not to offend anybody. This fails disastrously as the film presents Finland as a very prejudiced and racist country. There are just too many skinheads and polices for a great film and the only 'normal' persons in the film are Tuomas/Omar (Haapasalo) and Hanne (Björklund). We seem to live in a world that consists only of extremes. I dare to suggest that the film could have been better if these 'normal' people had been exchanged with the 'extraordinary'. Björklund and Haapasalo could have been used to play more demanding roles, but I think they are too swallow in this film. If only we have had more of that "You are my first Ingusian man..." and other fatalities from Björklund, this film would have rocked.

A really good-feeling Finnish movie, colorful and fresh.

[turkU_182 · 10/10 · 8 January 2004]

I took my girlfriend to this movie and I really didn't know so much about it. We had a real surprise! This has got to be one of the best (not just Finnish) films I have seen! It does look great, the music is fresh and the actors/actresses look like they had fun making it. Pietro Steiner who plays the friend of Ville Haapasalo is great as Finnish baseball nut. But all of the acting is good- feeling good chemistry. "Vieraalla Maalla" is a really good-feeling movie, colorful and fresh. Definately the best looking Finnish film since Kaurismäki's "A Man With A Past". Go and see it. Whether you are a Finn or not you will be surprised. A fine Finnish movie!

Best finnish comedy so far

[[e-mail] · 8/10 · 14 December 2003]

I had an opportunity to watch Vieraalla Maalla in a preview and I knew nothing in advance. I'm not too keen about finnish movies generally, but this one surprised me. The film was "good" from beginning to very end without any down-swings. There were few jokes based on finnish language and knowing some places, so it might not open completely to those not so familiarized with finnish/Finland. Anyway, if it ever makes to abroad video renting, I suppose it's a movies that nobody knows but surprises positively everyone who dares to take it.