In the search for a recognizable brand, people are apparently digging deeper and deeper. So deep, in fact, that we have now reached the humorous film “The Munich Man in Heaven,” which was released in 1911 (as well as the cult short film of the same name from 1962). In his amiable, mocking story, the “rascals’ story” author Ludwig Thoma satirizes the archetype of the Bavarian Grantler – using the Munich railway employee Alois Hingerl, who, after his sudden death, frets about the fact that there is only manna and no beer in heaven until God himself sends him back to earth (and thus directly to the Hofbräuhaus).
In “A Munich man in heaven – death is just the beginning” the good Lord now appears in the form of the presenter and musical cabaret artist Ina Müller, while (ex-)Blödelbarde Olli Schulz embodies a guardian angel with burnout. But unfortunately that was it for the anarchy in this thoroughly staid comedy. “Rate Your Date” director David Dietl abandons the original (and its cheeky, cheerful charm) as quickly as possible in order to instead tell a second-chance-as-a-ghost story that feels like we’ve already seen it on the screen dozens of times. Morally sour instead of beer-like – that’s certainly not how we imagined it, given the title.
In his life before death, the well-connected taxi driver Wiggerl (Maximilian Brückner) was quite a womanizer…
Instead of a Grantler, the film adaptation focuses on a Hallodri: the Munich taxi driver Ludwig ‘Wiggerl’ Brunner (Maximilian Brückner) wakes up next to someone else every morning. Not only does his estranged wife Kathi (Hannah Herzsprung) desperately need help paying off their shared rent debt, his teenage daughter Toni (Momo Beier) has also long since understood that her father simply cannot be relied on. Now the part-time rock star is racing to his daughter’s forgotten birthday party when his taxi is rammed by another car. Wiggerl’s body ends up in a coma while his soul is already ascending to heaven.
But as if that wasn’t bad enough, he is also confronted at the gates of heaven with the fact that when playing the harp on a cloud, only manna is served and under no circumstances beer. Wiggerl is beside herself – and it also becomes clear to God (Ina Müller) that she is dealing with a real Munich native. In order to save himself the usual stress, he is sent back to earth – with the task of delivering a letter to the Bavarian State Chancellery. However, the document ends up directly in the Isar, while Wiggerl instead prefers to repair his relationship with his daughter (only she can see him)…
Disused attraction
Sometimes you’re just unlucky. For film funding reasons, “A Munich Man in Heaven” was primarily shot in Vienna, which – quite convincingly – doubles as the Bavarian capital. But of course at least one local attraction still has to be placed prominently in order to maintain appearances – and of all things, the Eisbach wave was chosen, which, however, has no longer risen independently since a stream was swept in October 2025. Project attempts are currently underway to artificially bring the surfer’s paradise to a halt again – and the screenwriter Marcus Pfeiffer (“Beckenrand Sheriff”) is also making similar efforts to divert the potentially anarchic narrative of the Munich man in heaven into safe waters (i.e. waters that are well known down to the smallest details) as quickly as possible.
With his favorite saying, “Don’t give a damn, then it won’t work!” Wiggerl pleads for a healthy portion of sausage – but it is precisely this serenity that the film completely lacks: Instead of simply having fun with the premise (or stopping by the Hofbräuhaus for the odd beer), it almost feels like work not only for the protagonist, but at some point also for the audience. So Wiggerl has to deal with a huge mountain of problems postmortem: financial, family and then also the relationship with his father (a German superstar, but he won’t be revealed at this point), with whom he hasn’t spoken since his mother’s death. That in itself would be incredibly bourgeois – but if the title “A Munich in Heaven” is also on the poster, it becomes even more painfully noticeable.
… as a result of which his relationship with daughter Toni (Momo Becker) suffered greatly.
“A Munich in Heaven” has a lot of plot, but few punchlines. On the plus side are the actors – especially Maximilian Brückner (“Oktoberfest”). Especially at the beginning, when he can still be Stenz, it becomes clear that he certainly had what it takes to be a calm, god-awful Munich player. Instead, he too is put on a tight leash in order to enforce the family morality, which is certainly not wrong, but also thoroughly exhausted and consistently formulaic. The title promise of a certain Bavarian nonchalance is only fulfilled on the soundtrack, which is filled with good-humored alpine rock pieces.
Conclusion: Instead of sinking into the Hofbräuhaus, the crooked house blessing is fixed. Ludwig Thoma’s anarchic joke gives way to a ponderous, didactic family comedy based on formula. From the beginning, it was obviously just a matter of finding a title that was already known, rather than actually breathing new life into the iconic original.