I thought the movie was very well done and made some very interesting interpretations meant to be thought about the real world, cities, etc... all things people have said, but what I didn't see was that this place is a form of purgatory for people who committed suicide. I believe that this is why there were so many middle aged middle class white people. Also the lack of children and not too many elderly. I agree with most posters that the first scene was not real because of the kissing being the same lifeless, emotionless stuff. But I do think that Andreas killed himself anyway before he got there. He seems rather depressed at all times and never so much as asks questions until he finds the violin music. I also realize that the others took some time possibly to get used to this place and started to understand what it took to at least get the "good" things that were there so they fell in line to at least be able to receive these things. Andreas took it too far and tried to reach the Heaven where people who didn't kill themselves went and then he did not fall back in line when given the opportunity before they took him back to the bus stop. I think that others may have experienced this and when they were told "aren't you happy here" by the older woman at the end they may have decided that this was probably a good idea as opposed to going with the men in the jump suits. Just my interpretation. Curious to hear what others think.

Labeling Den brysomme mannen as a comedy or a fantasy is misleading, but the film is nevertheless both hilarious and dream-like in its atmosphere. It's a Kafkaesque nightmare, funny and disturbing at the same time, and it successfully draws the viewer into a dream-like haze and puts you in the shoes of the lead character, a fish out of water in an eery plastic utopia. The film works on two levels - immersing the viewer in the experience for the duration of the film, while satirizing modern western society and specifically the perceived coldness and detachment of city life in Norway.The film starts out incredibly strong and judged by its first two acts, it could have been one of the best films of the year; unfortunately it loses some wind in the last act, and allows the satire to lose its subtlety and become much more prominent than the atmosphere, throwing the viewer right out of the immersion built up during the first half and losing a lot of impact. Some scenes, especially the subway scene and the finale, are too over-the-top for anybody to be able to still be in the protagonist's shoes. And so, the last half hour make it a very good film rather than a great one, but still it's a fascinating and unusual film that will make you laugh and cringe, beautifully shot and well-acted, and well worth the time.

. . . Dean stopped at the video store and rented this. Said he felt like a change of pace from the usual slasher flicks and thrillers, so he thought we'd try some foreign fare. I think it's a pain in the neck to have everybody jibber jabbering away in Norwayican or whatever, cuz if you're distracted for the least little second and miss a couple of those American sentences at the bottom of the screen, you either have to rewind the DVD or lose the thread of what's happening. That may actually give us USers a double dose of what the guy who made THE BOTHERSOME MAN intended, cuz obviously he dident want this movie to make any sense to his fellow Norwayicans, either. What with Mercedes vaporizing in the desert, vahjayjay-shaped cellar cracks leading to other realities, the blue eyed guy getting destroyed and bouncing back more times than Wiley E. Coyote, all the chicks and bosses kowtowing to his every whim, but him preferring to ride the bus to Antarctica, it's kinda like Dean said: this guy thought he was making GROUNDHOG DAY, METAMORPHOSIS, NO EXIT & WAITING FOR GODOT all rolled into one. But Dean says give it 8 out of 10--that's what happens to your brain when you cut up hogs all day for a living!

... we all would live - even down to our most private moments - in a corporate behavior style? No kids, no taste, no deep emotions, no fancy colors... just friendly business-like ambiance? This is exactly the world of Anderland, an IKEAesk world, where everything seems to be clean and perfect, except there is no soul of anything and there is no way of breaking out. What really puts tension in this movie is that at some point you just want to know more about that world and what's happening next, because you can see parallels to our business-world. At the end, you ask yourself where you already are in this Anderland.This movie gives you a feeling of what our society could become, if we would be all about business. It puts you in an interesting mood: You see this movie, you want to escape from Anderland. Brilliant drama that every one of us corporate zombies should watch intently. I can really recommend that movie.