Molly & Wors – Die Movie
Directors: Willie and Pieter Esterhuizen
CAST: Willie Esterhuizen, Lizz Meiring, Gerhard Odendaal, Cherie van der Merwe, Carien Botha, Albert de Villiers, Marga van Rooy, Karin van der Laag, Alvin Bruinders, Ben Kruger, Liane Heyl, Sulette Minnaar, Hugh Mazibenza, Jai Prakash, Karen Wessels
CLASSIFICATION: 10-12PG
RUNNING TIME: 115 minutes
RATING: 2 stars (out of 5)
Diane de Beer
This, say the Esterhuizen clan, is what fans have been waiting for. If you’re not the target market (they describe that as the Afrikaans market), you might not get all the excitement, so this is a review for those not familiar with this much-loved (in certain quarters) television couple.
Esterhuizen and popular comedic actress Lizz Meiring are Molly and Wors (Sausage) and have been for years. They also have two children, Vaatjie (Odendaal), who had to get married to his pregnant girlfriend Shardonay (Van der Merwe), as well as a daughter Blapsie (Botha) and her almost to-be-engaged boyfriend Hardus (De Villiers).
Wors works for a F1 Fitment Centre in Joburg and is in line to win salesman of the year, which comes with an overseas trip. That’s really what this movie is about – the win and the ensuing fiasco.
Not wanting to spoil the fun, this is as much as one wants to disclose as this long-married couple slide through as many cliches as you could possibly hope for.
The premise isn’t a bad one. In fact if you knew all the facts, it would raise a smile. It’s the fleshing out of the text and the execution that ushers in the despair.
Do we still have to slide in a few underhand racial jokes? Really? It’s not that one begs for Rainbow Nation all the time but this is a new millennium and having paid a dear price as a country for sins of the past, are those kind of jokes really funny?
Or is this the Afrikaans market Esterhuizen is referring to? He says he holds a mirror but then racism shouldn’t surface in your mind.
Wors’ time in Amsterdam could also have been spent more wisely and I’m not asking him not to include the sexy women. It’s that kind of movie, c’mon. Budgets are a huge constraint but to watch his character endlessly take rides up and down canals is a bit much. It seemed to go on and on and on…
Molly & Wors has an inbuilt market who certainly won’t take any notice of this review and that’s a good thing. Esterhuizen has always understood his audience well and vigorously pursued them with great success.
Perhaps with a few tweaks, he could aim for a more inclusive embrace. But I have a feeling he thinks, why bother.
If you like the Willie Esterhuizen brands Vaatjie and Stoute Boudjies, you will probably like this film.