We all know about typographical errors. Newspapers are full of them. People who rely on spell-check make many. They can undoubtedly be found on this blog. But when an adoption agency secretary's inadvertent period turns "Patrik 15" into "Patrik 1.5" we have the material for a comedy.
Unfortunately, "Patrik 1.5," which opens today, tries to be funny and to moralize at the same time, and the result is such that sitting in St. Louis heat for a couple of hours may be more pleasant than sitting through a maudlin, predictable tale, though the idea of a Swedish film with lots of American country music is an interesting curiosity.
Sven (Torkel Petterson) and Goran (Gustav Skarsgard) are a married gay couple (Goran wears a wedding ring and introduces Sven as "my husband") who are new to a suburban neighborhood as bright as Seaside, Florida. They have been approved as adoptive parents and eagerly await the 18-month old son they have been promised, fantasizing about decorations for his room, discussing their garden, ignoring groups of small children who stand outside and yell, "Homo!"
Goran, a doctor, is kind and sweet and tender. Sven, who has an ex-wife and a teenage daughter who visit, is more moody, and the former wife (Annika Hallin) is used to point out that he has smoking and drinking problems. The daughter (Amanda Davin in a fine performance) is just totally angry with her father, her mother, her world.
And then Patrik (Thomas Ljungman) arrives–and of course he's 15, with a petty criminal background and homophobic tendencies. It's easy to figure out the rest.
Petterson and Skarsgard are one-dimensional, director Ella Lemhager lacks pacing and imagination. It's hard to tell who picked the music, but while everyone speaks Swedish, they sing in English, as if they were in Nashville, with songs apparently chosen to match the cliches. Tanya Tucker sings "Love Me Like You Used To," and Jessica Andersson, sounding a lot like Dolly Parton, sings, "Here You Come Again."
"Patrik 1.5" opens today at the Tivoli
–Joe