The plot concept; an upper middle class Scandinavian school where meddling parents take the place of the children. They have meetings aka 'classes' together, they have their own childish group dynamics and are all afraid of the passive agressive principal. The story follows them and their children on a team building trip to the woods giving them the chance to be particularly snidey and two faced towards eachother, resulting in some very well realised comedy.
The opening pre credits scene is a particularly good one and works brilliantly to set up the group of characters and the tone of the script - the parents are in a meeting at the school discussing the upcoming excursion. We know within minutes that we are dealing with a diverse group of personalities who all share one thing in common - they are all putting on a front in some way. They boil down to a toxic group who are of course all doing it 'for the kids', and are quick to explain so. The parents are controlling of the children but through smiles and false kindness, and in fact they may be just as interested in getting one over some of the others. They are all intrusive and insufferable, especially with other parents where there is competition to be the most nurturing to the children.
There are plot points and a story to follow concerning the newest couple of parents coming to terms with their marriage and what they have let themselves in for, but I found it more about spending time within the group and watching their shenanigans. There was some nice sharp editing and decent character writing. A gag of over using the word kerfuffle and being called out on it is particularly good, the cucumber jelly is particularly bad. It was funny, enjoyable and well worth a look.
4 out of 5
Comments