Alibi (2008)

Directed by: Johan Nijenhuis | 86 minutes | comedy | Actors: Frederik Brom, Achmed Akkabi, Egbert Jan Weeber, Georgina Verbaan, Isa Hoes, Kees Boot, Cees Geel, Sascha Visser, Sophia Wezer

Although it has not yet dawned on the Dikke van Dale, they do exist: alibi agencies. Companies that ensure that adultery, drinking and weekends at the casino are disguised as conferences, refresher courses or a weekend with management on the moor. Worried wives are reassured by telephone, falsified hotel bookings and train tickets do the rest.

Such desks are, of course, rewarding subjects for novels or films. For example, Peter de Zwaan won the Gouden Strop with the thriller ‘Het alibibureau’ from 2000. In 2008 filmmaker Johan ‘Zoop’ Nijenhuis uses the phenomenon as a subject for the film ‘Alibi’. In this romantic comedy, we follow the amiable flierefluiter Youssef, whose talent for lying and cheating is discovered by the director of an alibi agency. When Youssef falls in love with the waitress Andrea, his talent turns against him. With all the comical consequences that entails.

Because a good comedy has to rely on the unexpected, it is nice that ‘Alibi’ has a striking number of nice finds. The humor is of the good-natured kind, without the imposed and clumsy that still too often mars Dutch comedies. However, the phenomenon of alibi agency should have been used better and humor and elaboration sometimes lack some sharpness. Moreover, in the course of the film, the comedic elements have to give way to the romantic ones, so that the unbalanced acting performances are increasingly brought to light.

The fact that ‘Alibi’ was successful is mainly due to its lack of pretension. ‘Alibi’ refuses to take itself, its characters and its story seriously, resulting in a good-natured film full of self-mockery, but without intelligent messages or psychological depth. And without politically correct stuff. Youssef’s Moroccan descent plays no role at all; he is an integrated immigrant without being forced to act as an integrated immigrant, which is so refreshing. The lack of pretension gives the makers plenty of room to be less strict with logic, continuity and consistency.

The world of ‘Alibi’ leans against the cartoonish, with its own rules and laws. Sometimes people overdo it (Youssef’s mother’s fat colleague is a bit too much), more often it lends the comedy a sympathetic and idiosyncratic face. For a film that only wants to amuse, ‘Alibi’ is thus completely successful. Not a high flyer, but an hour and a half of infectious entertainment.