Lammbock (3 Stars)

A day in the life? This is more like a week in the life of two drug dealers in southern Germany, somewhere near Würzburg.

Stefan and Kai are two young men who own a pizza delivery service which they call Lammbock. What makes their company special is that they also deliver marijuana. When you call them all you have to do is ask for the Special, and a small bag is added to the pizza. It's the perfect cover.

What they don't reckon with is that their crop of home-grown marijuana is struck with lice. The only person who can help them fight the lice is Achim, an undercover policeman. He's supposed to turn over criminals to his police colleagues, but in his undercover work he's come to appreciate marijuana, so his loyalties are divided between the police and his new friends.

I call this a day-in-the-life film because it lacks the character arcs that are usual in films of any genre. The two lead characters don't go anywhere. They don't develop. At the end of the film they're back where they were at the beginning, and it's doubtful that they've learnt anything from their adventures.

The film has some action in it, but it's more about the talking. It has a lot of similarities with "Reservoir Dogs", which is made more obvious by blunt references to the film in the dialogue. Maybe "Lammbock" has too much talking and not enough action. As an attempt to make a German Tarantino film it doesn't quite succeed. The magic is misssing.