Search - Stop Mom Theresa! on DVD

Love in Budapest

Alex Udvary | chicago, il United States | 07/13/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Kata (Gabriella Hamori) one day simply announces to her parents she is not going to marry the man she has been living with, Marci (Ferenc Elek). Her parents are shocked! Why? How can this be? The shame! Kata has decided to go back with her ex, Fonyo (Ferenc Hujber). Fonyo knows Kata is living with a man and Kata finds out Fonyo has a girlfriend. But, that doesn't stop her from trying. Right now she is happy to be the other woman.

Things seems to go well for Kata, she really seems to like Fonyo until he sends her an e-mail which Marci reads. In that same day she gets fired from her job for destroying the company car. When you play with fire, you get burned!

Lonely and depressed Kata has lost all feeling for life. She decides she needs to search for mister right. Oddly, we see her spend more time trying to find a man then say, oh, I don't know, finding a job!

Regardless Kata and her friends; Lujzi (Eszter Onodi) a married woman cheating on her husband, Pirkoviki (Melinda Major) another married friend, who, for whatever reasons, is actually happy about her married life and Marcsi (Judith Schell) a single mother. These three ladies will attempt to help Kata find the man of her dreams.

And Kata does meet a lot of men along the way. There is Peter (Ervin Nagy), David (Hungarian heartthrob Sandor Csanyi, who surprisingly gets second billing, it is a small role) and Tamas (Zsolt Laszlo). Things don't always go as planned for poor Kata. The men pick up her hopes and just as fast, pop them. But whose fault is it really? Is it the men or Kata. Does she so desperately want a relationship that she rushes into things?

Much of this may sound like the makings of a funny romantic comedy. And I'll grant you in the beginning the movie does have some funny moments. But "Stop Mom Theresa (Allitsatok meg Terezanyut)" isn't really a funny movie. It tries to cross comedy and drama but the balance never quite works. How this could have been a smash comedy in Hungary is beyond me! We Hungarians usually have such good taste!

Much of the problem has to do with a sub-plot involving Kata's brother Miki (Zsolt Nagy). Miki use to have a drug problem and Kata feels it is her responsibility to make sure Miki has quit the habbit once and for all. But what the heck does a story-line involving drugs have any right doing in a comedy about a woman's search for the right man?! Did the writer throw it in to show us another side of Kata. Was it an attempt to show us she is not a bad person, despite the fact she wanted to cheat on her boyfriend and broke off her marriage? Is that what the title is referring to when by "mother theresa"? But Kata doesn't put other people's feelings before her own. Everything is about her. Her search for a man, her search for a job. The brother is the only other person she cares about. We never see Kata as a push-over. Therefore the title made little sense to me.

But the constant shifts between comedy and drama soon become too much for the director and the actors. Gabriella Hamori is a wonderful talent. An absolute delight to watch on-screen, but sadly so much is wasted in this film. There are some comparisons to "Bridget Jones' Diary" according to some. That is misleading. "Diary" was actually a funnier film.

There was a Hungarian movie I saw last year at the International Chicago Film Festival called "Csak szex es mas semmi" it starred two of the people from this movie, Judith Schell and Sandor Csanyi. THAT was a funny, warm, intelligent film. It was everything this movie wanted to be. It too was about a woman who goes through a bad break-up and decides she needs to find mr. right. Hopefully that film will find distribution and be released in America. That is "Bridget Jones' Diary" in Budapest.

First time director Peter Bergendy has talent. I bet if given a better script he could make a very good romantic comedy. Many of the film's funny moments are visual gags, so he clearly has a good eye and knows how to work the camera and where to place his actors. I'll look forward to his next film. In the meantime, he should look out for better scripts.

Bottom-line: A comedy/drama that just doesn't quite work as well as it should have. The laughs come few and far between but the actors' spirit carries the film. Hamori is a joy to watch!"

I love this movie.

Original Emily | Denver, CO USA | 07/27/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm a big fan of Hungarian films and this one is really good. I like the pairing of Hamori and Csanyi again, their scenes together are fantastic. I've read several other reviews of this movie that were not favorable but I think the plot was not accuratly described. It's really the story of a woman who makes a lot of mistakes but always seeks to make a better life for herself. The Hungarian scenery is also really beautiful."