Fijn weekend is a new comedy directed, part written and produced by Homies director Jon Karthaus. Jon Karthaus also plays a character in this film.
In the film, family members go with their partners and demented father to the French Burgundy, where they used to go as a family. This time they gather here for a memorial weekend and will scatter the ashes of their deceased brother and friend here.
When Evelien (Lisa Zweerman) arrives too late with her new love Bram (Kay Greidanus), an uneasy atmosphere suddenly arises between everyone. Despite this atmosphere, as family and friends they just try to continue their traditions for one last time. This time everything is just different than they were used to.
With this movie, Jon Karthaus and the rest of the movie cast and crew seem to have come up with the idea for this movie together. In addition to Jon Karthaus, others from the film cast also co-wrote the story of the final film. For some of them this is only their first writing. For others who have written something before in the front of a film, this writing also remains a bit on the starting side. The fact that a story has been written with four people, some of whom are still on the inexperienced side, can be seen in the film itself. Many things like the characters or events are not given a clear background or further explanation. For example, you hardly know what everyone's relationship is, or what the rules are for the different games they play together. For example, it sometimes seems as if you are looking at holiday images of strange people that you do not know yourself.
This film is also reminiscent of a comedy made by actor Adam Sandler. With his Grown Ups films, for example, he would take befriended actors to a beautiful place to have the film played here, but otherwise he made little effort to really make something beautiful or comical of these films. Just like in such films of his, the most laughed is also by the film cast themselves in this film. The comedy of the film is much on the predictable or forced side, so there is not really much to laugh about anymore. The story itself is also a bit odd and sloppy. Characters often make separate decisions at the wrong moments, so that as a viewer, despite the fact that the film is a comedy, it is sometimes difficult to take it seriously. Many of these strange decisions seem unrealistic.
Due to the lack of explanation and the separate actions that the characters sometimes undergo, the acting does not come out so strongly. Only when you learn about the relationships between the different characters later in the film can you better understand why they react to certain things the way they do. On the other hand, it does create extra discomfort between the characters and for you as a viewer.
