The new Netflix film Trouble, also called Strul, is a remake of a 1988 Swedish comedy that was also titled Strul. (Which basically approximates “Trouble” in Swedish.) Directed and co-written by Jon Holmberg, Trouble follows Conny (Filip Berg), a pleasantly hapless electronics salesman, who ends up getting mistaken as a murderer. That counts as some trouble! Will Conny be able to clear his good name and turn his precocious little daughter’s frown upside down? That will depend on an absurd set of circumstances falling his way. Trouble also stars Eva Melander, Amy Deasismont, Måns Nathanaelson, and Joakim Sällquist.
TROUBLE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: Do not be alarmed, the plane is not crashing. Conny (Berg) is only playing his treasured flight simulator video game, where he imagines he’s the commercial airline pilot that his ex’s new boyfriend actually is. When he isn’t daydreaming, Conny is a good dad to his gradeschooler daughter and happy to work with consumer electronics at Elgiganten – like a Best Buy – even if his boss constantly diminishes his character. But pretty soon Conny’s got a much more pressing problem than how he’ll earn enough money to buy a horse for little Julia. After a series of work-related circumstances, Conny finds himself at the wrong place at the wrong time, arrested, convicted, and sentenced to 18 years for a murder he didn’t even know was happening.
“That was very foolish of course, but I was scared shitless.” Whether he’s being questioned by police or, later, fending for himself in prison, Conny maintains a wide-eyed honesty that’s pretty endearing. It’s just that endearing doesn’t grease the wheels of court appeals, especially when Hasse (Nathanaelson), his lawyer, is about as responsive as Helena Malm (Melander), the detective on his case. Junior officer Diana Wilson (Deasismont) is the only person at the cop shop curious enough about Conny’s predicament to give it more than a cursory assumption of his guilt.
Inside, when interactions with a muslebound fellow prisoner named Musse (Sällquist) reveal the possibility of leaving and returning to the prison on a temporary basis, Conny decides to seize the opportunity to do his own research on the outside. He’ll find evidence of the real killer, get exonerated, and be home in time to celebrate his daughter’s birthday. Easy! But Trouble has still more circumstances to throw at Conny. Half the police force is chasing him one way. A set of disgruntled criminal types are expecting him to go another. And he’s in the middle, trying to show everybody that he’s just a regular guy and not a vicious killer. To prove it, Conny willl need an assist from Diana, work skills he didn’t expect to be applicable, and a healthy amount of his natural optimism.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of? Netflix has its share of quirky Swedish comedies where sudden upheaval leads to touches of humanity. In this regard, Trouble is joined by The Year I Started Masturbating, Norma, and Thank You I’m Sorry.
Performance Worth Watching: Amy Deasismont is really funny in Trouble as Diana Wilson, and increasingly so as Diana becomes one of the only police officers actually interested in trying to clear Conny’s name.
Memorable Dialogue: The hysterics escalate as Trouble progresses. “I found the phone! I know who the killer is! It’s totally insane!”
Sex and Skin: None.
Our Take: Trouble isn’t exactly predictable, but that’s mostly because of how easy it is to root for Filip Berg’s Conny. Railroaded by the justice system after a series of interlocking occurrences that are entirely obvious, Conny nevertheless stay a positive presence in Trouble, and the film’s somewhat cartoonish approach to criminal violence and the corruption of people with power also makes it watchable in a low stakes way. If Conny was really going to serve out a two-decade prison sentence for a crime he didn’t commit, the film might have retained its watchability, since Berg plays him with such approachability. (Conny’s the kind of guy who would probably happily teach everybody in the joint how to play his flight simulator game.) But as it becomes clear how he’ll circumvent that prison sentence, we found ourselves anticipating the next set of madcap circumstances that would somehow lead to the establishment of his innocence. Throw in a few Guy Ritchie-style caper sequences, and Trouble becomes as enjoyable as it is predictable.
Our Call: STREAM IT! As long as you’re not looking for anything super serious, that is. Trouble is a light, fun ride that thrives on the easygoing, unassuming charm of Filip Berg as lovable dolt Conny. It doesn’t expect that you’ll ask too many questions about how he found his way into the titular mess, and it helps the viewer along as he tries to get himself out of it.
Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.