“The Nickname” film review: Fighting stars in the snow

The Böttcher-Berger-König-Wittmann family is back: “The Nickname” started on December 19th Part 3 from Sönke Wortmanns (65) Film series about the chaotic group that loves to argue about names. But as in “The First Name” (2018) and especially in its direct predecessor “The Last Name” (2022), everything quickly no longer just revolves around controversial naming, in this case around the nickname Paulchen, Thomas (Florian David Fitz, 50) often used for daughter Paula.

The usual turbulent family brings with them all sorts of secrets that need to be kept on a trip together in the snow – or don't they?

Family full of tensions

Anna (Janina Uhse, 35) had imagined it so beautifully: stepping in front of the altar with Thomas in the snowy Tyrolean Alps. The family wedding is to take place high up on the mountain in a small chapel. But she also knows about the often explosive atmosphere that can arise when Thomas' family meets and that harmony is definitely “not a superpower” of the group.

While Anna's career as an actress is going great, Thomas has to struggle to make it onto the board of a real estate company – and he is not spared a sensitivity workshop with unforeseen consequences. Thomas' mother Dorothea (Iris Berben, 74) could enjoy married life with René (Justus von Dohnányi, 64), but the former mother-adoptive son team has been the parents of twins for three years and René has developed into an overprotective helicopter father.

Thomas' brother-in-law Stephan (Christoph Maria Herbst, 58) is not only struggling with his skis, he still has to digest the fact that he was recently fired from the university as a professor. Of all people, he, the language-obsessed member of the family, was expelled because of a linguistic misstep. Stephan's wife Elisabeth (Caroline Peters, 53) has to bring the money home, which she not only masters as a teacher, but also discovers her secret talent in Bitcoin trading.

Grossglockner backdrop

Fortunately, all of the beloved characters and therefore the acting stars behind them are back in the cast of the third part, the script of which, like the first two films, was written by Claudius Pläging. While in “The First Name” everything focused on one dinner location, in “The Last Name” it became more varied. Instead of the barren volcanic island landscape of Lanzarote, this time the snowy peaks, slopes and luxury chalets, shot in Kals am Großglocknera optical added value.

Various irritating words of Gen-Z

The wedding initially seems like a sensible follow-up to bring the family back together for a third part. But the reasons for arguments in the family are usually different this time. Now they are all confronted with social reality in the form of the generational, gender, climate and global justice debate, which daughter Antigone never tires of raising in her family. But the stereotypical, woke Gen Z member is alone with his opinion on most topics.

As keywords fall Gendering, Nonbinarity or Whataboutism and almost every member has a different (bourgeois) opinion about it. For the most part, people cannot agree and the issues are quickly dismissed in favor of the desire for harmony. The question quickly arises for the viewer as to whether tiring discussions around currently burning topics work comedically and make sense for the film. The well-cast new additions Jona Volkmann as son Cajus and Kya-Celina Barucki as daughter Antigone would certainly have provided enough starting points for family conflicts, not only with their view of the world, but also with their teenage problems.

Autumn is a guarantee of success even in winter

A Highlight The third part is once again Christoph Maria autumn Representation of Stephan Berger. With his snappy comments about the annoying family members and his physical and emotional missteps, he becomes an important support for the humor potential of the comedy. So the reunion with the family, who likes to discuss things, still has its place amusing passageseven if “The Nickname” otherwise doesn't exhaust its possibilities in terms of content and therefore humor-wise behind his two predecessors remains.

3 out of 5 smelling salt grains