If a movie is this long, I would expect some credible character development, which does not take place. There are so many meaningless but cringe-worthy moments in this film that contribute nothing to the experience. It's quite difficult to empathize with either of the main characters since both essentially waste their time with meaningless, absurd activities. The father's approach to getting closer to his daughter is to interfere in a disturbing manner into her professional consultant life. A spontaneously nude party at the consultant's apartment represents the peak of ridiculousness of this movie since it's totally random, meaningless and the opposite of sensual. Maybe all this movie is trying to show is the utter meaninglessness of modern life. No need to waste precious time on this!

A near-three hour German comedy that was always destined for some critical attention, given how unusual the setup and how good the performances.Sandra Huller, so good in her role as the business-like emotionally-detached daughter, anxiously reacting to the sudden unannounced appearance of her father into her life, following the death of his beloved dog at the start of the film, seeking to restore their bond gone adrift - both characters actually seem rather lonely in themselves.Simonischeck's father figure, and his alter-ego (the titular Toni) is quite the weapons-grade buffoon (thanks for that phrase, Empire), yet errs on the hilarious over irritating and never strays into the implausible.There are a couple of scenes so awkward it's hard to watch (one of those does end on an emotional punch at least), but in general the script balances itself well between awkwardness, laugh-out-loud funny and genuine sadness without being mawkish or folding into cliche.Definitely a slow burner, got to have some patience for the running time, and a bit of a mood piece but I found this surprisingly affecting and recalled several moments in the film days after seeing it. Recommended for those willing to look outside the box a bit.

The characters are perfectly framed to describe the fractured relation between a divorced man entertained mostly by his own jokes and his career oriented - forever busy daughter. The movie starts off with what it looks like a cold/monotonous father-daughter relation and progresses with a series of clashes and pranks (some of them eccentric, others pretty dull) that lead to a (more human) tension between the two. This movie can take you through a mix of feelings: amusement (personally, i laughed to tears), cringe (as a consequence of ridiculously embarrassing scenes) and sadness (the ho-hum corporate life, with minor peaks of enthusiasm but mostly covered in tiredness and personal isolation). Would have appreciated a more compact version of this movie, but it was enjoyable nevertheless.

TERRIBLE movie. Maybe it's because i'm Asian and don't understand the European culture.But i do think that movie should be universally engaging to audiences.The story itself is flawed. A big major flaw. An old guy trying to foster a closer relationship with his successful daughter and he dresses up as a his alter ego Toni Erdmann, an irritating person with false teeth and toupee and irritates the hell out of his daughter by disturbing her wherever she goes. How can he hope to achieve his win his daughter's heart by irritating her so much? Why should the daughter play along with his childish persona?If i were his daughter i would distance myself from 'Toni Erdmann" even more so.Please believe me when i say that this is the worst 3 long hours . Watch it at your own risk.