Old man (Antti Litja) has lived all his life in the Finnish countryside, without any benefits of modern society worth mentioning (he got his first radio in the 1960's!!) and now alone too since some time ago the missus walked out of the house after a minor dispute and then later as her health deteriorated was committed to senior home. But when Old Man injures his leg one day even he must agree that there's no way he could manage by himself and thus has to move at least temporarily to live with his son's (Ilkka Forss) family in the Helsinki suburbs. When Old Man arrives only the daughter-in-law (Mari Perankoski) is present for a time being, and very soon her initial slight suspicions about the arrangement turn out to be an understatement to say the least...

As everyone else in Finland I too rate our great veteran-actor Antti Litja very high up there, but unfortunately the tour-de-force performance gets muddled by the impossible character - even by comic standards - he's forced to play here: God knows there are a thousand stupid phenomenon from which to choose in the modern world, but here 'The Grump' has been made so totally devoid of reality that his ranting never has anything to give to anybody. He only comes across as a senile hick. And this fact is even furthermore emphasized by his eager but constantly failing actions as a helpful citizen, so what was really the point here plot- and message-wise, anyhow?

Actors do what they can with the material they got I guess, still especially Forss' (The Son) terribly written character is a downright disaster. We are also led to believe that in the house owned by SALES EXECUTIVE (=daughter-in-law) there is no means to make regular coffee even for quests'/clients' satisfaction... Except that Old Man finds a coffeemaker HE once gave them as a present from a closet (still in its package) but don't seem to know how to use it! By the way, when that old lady left him where on earth did she go at first? Etc etc.

Yes yes it's a comedy, and so funny too I laughed exactly once out loud: in the scene concerning crossword puzzles. Despite the fact it was as stupid as anything else in this another waste of potential opportunity to make a decent Finnish picture. But even stupidity can't make a clockwork orange me 'grumpy' anymore, just more numby.

Dome Karukoski's newest movies continues to reinforce his strongest points, but it also reveals some of his weaknesses. Based on Tuomas Kyrö's fictional character Mielensäpahoittaja, the movie tells the tale of an old man, so set on his ways that he makes cavemen seem liberal in comparison. There's one proper newspaper, one proper car, one proper way of earning a living, one proper television show (the news, of course) and of course one proper way for a married couple to live together. The story starts when he has to travel to Helsinki in order to visit a doctor. In there he stays with his son and daughter-in-law. Hilarity ensues.

If I'm being completely honest, I have to admit that the movie works best when it doesn't try to be funny, which is kind of a problem because it's a comedy. Or a comedic drama, which brings me to the good points. It's a very strong drama movie about the clashing of old and new. I especially love the family of the son and the daughter-in-law. This is a perfect example of a 21st century family, and yet it's not hammered in or forced down our throats. It's done subtle-like, slowly revealed, even though at first it's seen from the point of view of The Grump, who believes it to be one of the weirdest, most dysfunctional things he has ever seen. But we learn along with him and that journey makes this film worthwhile.

Still, it cannot be denied that a lot of the elements of the film seem detached from one another. We have a few humorous scenes with the Russians, then some flashbacks, then some angry yelling drama, then some humorous jihinks again, followed by the biggest screaming fit yet seen. This disparity would be fine, if the scenes connected, but quite often they do not. The final third kind of pulls it all together, but you have to get there first, which can be be problematic. And yet that ending is so good that it almost makes up for it.

I can safely say that I liked The Grump. It has its flaws and I can see why some people don't like it at all. But when it works, when the scene simply captivates you with its poignancy or simple beauty, then all the flaws seem to melt away and you're left with something that will stick with you. And that's the mark of a good film.

We went to see this in the GFT and we are are British Finnish couple. As a Brit I've been made to suffer many Finnish films and this was by far the best :). I really enjoyed it.

It was very funny and really made you think about the difference between generations, gender and culture- in fact I'm still thinking about the things in it that made me laugh and whether they were because my partner is Finnish, a man or suck in the past!

I thought the end the film was quite beautiful and showed an example of how even with age, experience and stubbornness we can still be wrong but realise the beauty in the people around us is a thing to treasure and love.