"This is such a funny and intrepid movie you might find yourself skipping out of the cinema, whistling the theme tune"

This is such a funny and intrepid movie you might find yourself skipping out of the cinema, whistling the theme tune. It’s a literal blast to follow the screen adaptation of Jonas Jonasson’s best-selling novel about a centenarian dynamite-crazy maverick who enjoys hard liquor and blowing things up.

Through flashback memories of toasting with general Franco, cossack dancing with Stalin and bomb testing with President Truman we explore major events of the last century and the incredible life of Allan Karlsson- a swedish devil-may-care vagabond.

He is soon drawn into yet another adventure when he escapes his retirement home on his hundredth birthday. He ends up in a messy crime plot involving a huge stack of money, an elephant and a bunch of smalltown weirdos. He is being chased by a motorcycle gang, swedish police and on the line is charismatic Pim (Alan Ford) shouting at him that he’s dead meat. Yet Allan is a sweet and carefree character who doesn’t mind getting into a bit of trouble, assuming he’s given a little drink first. After all, people have been screaming at him his whole life, he says without nostalgia.

The film is made by the very best of the swedish film-making elite in a witty and fast paced style. The characters are peculiar and endearing in the famous way of director and screenplay writer Felix Herngren. He has a gift for making commonplace behavior or thoughts seem absurd and funny. This film is a continuation of his merciless humour from previous films like Grown Ups (1999) and his work on the hit tv show “Solsidan” which is a neurotic and dry comedy-drama show; sort of a scandinavian “Desperate Housewives”.

The film also has a fabulously notorious cast. They couldn’t have picked a better actor than Robert Gustafsson for the lead. Nobody can drink vodka on screen like he can and he has repeatedly been named the funniest man in Sweden. He does a terrific job playing Allan Karlsson as a man both half and double his age. He brings vivid charm to the narrator voice which frees up the way the story is told that reminds me of the fantastical methods of Wes Anderson. The soundtrack, composed by Matty Bye, is the cherry on top of the icing. It sounds at times like a balkan circus by candle light and is as epic and uplifting as the movie itself.