Romantic comedies are predictable, kitschy and often out of date. The comedy duo Anke Engelke and Bastian Pastewka want to miss out on the perfect romantic comedy in the Amazon Prime series talk about romance without it becoming romantic. It’s not just LOL: Last One Laughing fans who know that they’re a blast together. Engelke and Pastewka were convincing in the entertainment show, and now they’re also appearing as a romcom couple in Perfect Missed?
The two have been an integral part of the entertainment world for over 25 years. You can’t expect silly things like their folk music parodies with Wolfgang & Anneliese in the new series. Without any costumes, they make life as over-50 singles in a small town tangible – including embarrassing situations with your ex, friends who want to set you up and self-invitations.
Engelke and Pastewka take the wrong turns in the romcom literally
From the very beginning, the solution to the single problem is clear: Maria Lampe (Anke Engelke) and Ralf Hartmann (Bastian Pastewka) just have to meet each other. Instead, they miss each other all the timealthough they both live in the same city (Marburg) and actually keep running past each other. The wrong turns that Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) takes in the cult series How I Met Your Mother, for example, are not temporary relationships or crushes, but are to be taken literally. There are many ways to miss each other.
Because the series is set in Marburg, where the city is divided into an upper town and a lower town, both are often on different levels. Or in the same room.
Check out the trailer for Perfectly Missed:
Perfectly Missed – S01 Teaser Trailer (German) HD
As in other romcoms, the two are connected and so, with the help of split screen and dialogue overlaps, Parallels between the two shown. These can be banalities, such as the fact that both of them have forgotten to go shopping. So he has cereal and water for breakfast, while she has toast and cornflakes. It seems as if the two of them were really made for each other. The suspense continues, because ultimately you want to know how and if the two of them will get together or how they will miss each other again.
The hoped-for happy ending of Maria and Ralf becomes a running gag
The Weakness of other romcomsnamely, being predictable, makes Perfect Missed a strength. Because the series is merciless with spoilers. In the first few minutes, Maria and Ralf have even held hands and talked to each other. But because they are sitting back to back on a ride 45 meters up, they don’t see each other. The brief romantic moment is abruptly interrupted because the wild ride on the “Chaos Pendulum” continues. Ten years later, they are both single.
The fact that their paths keep crossing but they never notice each other becomes a clever running gag. The series has a few tricks up its sleeve to help the two communicate with each other without ever consciously exchanging a word. They are in the same place at the same time, have a mutual friend and acquaintances. Ralf’s badly parked car is a recurring theme throughout the series.
The Amazon series gives outdated role models an update
Perfectly Missed takes enough time for both characters. The series also distributes a few digs at other romcomsBecause the fact that Maria runs a bookstore like Meg Ryan did in E-Mail for You is a clever move. But Maria will not have to give up her bookstore to be happy with a rich man (Tom Hanks) like Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan).
Amazon
Anke Engelke in Perfectly Missed at Amazon
Instead, they are both entrepreneurs. She has a bookstore, he has a sports shop. They have pragmatically named their two stores after their last names: “Lese Lampe” and “Sport Hartmann”. Perfekt Missed does not give in to outdated role models such as “the man has a career, the woman gives up everything for him”.
How much Pastewka is in Ralf from Perfectly Missed?
The two do not meet at their lowest point, but simply in a completely normal life crisis. Ralf is a family man and has to learn that his two daughters are slowly growing up, while Maria is looking for recognition for an idea she had years ago.
As in Pastewka, Bastian Pastewka plays a guy who likes to make bad but tragicomic jokes. Ralf, however, is much more thoughtful and less self-confident than Pastewka’s serial self and a clumsy, unlucky person. Maria tends to be slightly hysterical, but tries to be self-ironic.
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The mix of dramedy instead of comedy is popular
In terms of setting, head authors Sebastian Colley and Claudius Pläging as well as Sintje Rosema and Fabienne Hurst did not opt for a farm or big city romance, but for a completely normal small town with 70,000 inhabitants. In the town itself, everything is so closely interwoven that both storylines move together.
The team of writers, who write for series, TV and comedy shows as well as TV films, find a good balance between comedic and serious moments. And so Perfectly Missed is a thoughtful alternative to the classic romantic comediesthat get lost in unbelievable superficialities. Perfectly Missed is a pleasant romantic dramedy with clever parallels, coincidences and jabs at other romcoms.