AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

thelittleother I was really disappointed by this film. The opening 10 minutes are really impressive, and had me expecting something intelligent, angry and well-crafted. Dries is great amoral protagonist, Jan is genuinely likable and Dorpe becomes a truly tragic figure. The dialogue is mostly quite economical and the cinematography is fabulous throughout.Having Koen walk around on his ceiling is a great idea but some of the other devices are just visual gags. The "transgressive" stuff is a real mixture. There are parts that a heartbreakingly sad and awful, but a lot of it is just puerile jokes about genitals.In fact Ex Drummer is much more of a straightforward comedy than I was expecting. And the humour is mostly about (a) inappropriate use of language (gosh!), (b) a young man being attracted to an overweight, older woman (eww!), (c) outsize or unpleasant genitals (woah!). It's like Driller Killer meets The Inbetweeners. The meeting is not a success.There's a fairly explicit threesome sex scene that's only there to titillate, as far as I can see, since like Driller Killer's lesbian shower scene it adds pretty much nothing to plot or characterisation. It did, though, add to a general whiff of misogyny that I felt was hanging around the film even after you looked past the deliberate attempts to offend.The story is a bit of a mess. Without wishing to post spoiler, let's just say that it sets up a lot of tensions and possibilities that it doesn't bother to explore and ends up going for a set-piece ending that doesn't really make any dramatic sense. That's OK if you're finding the penis jokes delightful and/or edgy, but if not then it's a bit frustrating.There are some great scenes of punk bands playing punk music. There are a few really bracing moments and some quite crazy ideas. The performances were compelling (I was watching with subtitles). You get a real sense of the locations. As I've mentioned above, there are other good things here too.For me, though, the film as a whole failed to live up to its promise. Don't get me wrong, I got a kick out of it, but from some of the reviews here I was expecting little short of a masterpiece. Maybe I was expecting too much. If you sit down to it with a few beers and mates for some laughs, some gross-out and some disorganised stuff to think about I imagine it'll be fine. This might be a case of the hype spoiling the movie for me, although I genuinely think there's a more serious film here struggling to get out.

ElijahCSkuggs Bizarro story surrounding an ex-drummer/writer who has purposely joined a band of slightly handicapped men. His reason is just really for the experience, and to escape his little world. With the personalities and behaviors of these other band-mates, it doesn't take long for our Ex-Drummer to realize it probably wasn't the greatest idea.Ex-Drummer is one hell of a unique flick. With insane conversations, loads of sexual themes (especially homosexuality), some serious violence, and quite possibly the biggest penis ever in a movie, Ex-Drummer succeeds on all types of levels. Even more so, it does great in the acting department as well. Everything production wise, it does with really any faults.My only two real gripes with the film was it's length. It just felt a tad too long. And the music at the end. I'm a fan of certain death metal, but not of thrash or insane music like that. But I can tell you it definitely fit the band as a whole. Insanity.I wouldn't mind hearing a commentary for this film, since there were quite a few thought-provoking sequences. Especially the upside down aspects.The whole movie has a cool air about it and I really dug it right from the opening sequence which had (this time) a kickass metal beat playing with it. Definitely check it out if you're into harder, almost exploitative movies. Good stuff here.

Paul Jennings When a famed Belgian author joins forces with a trio of rock wannabes he provides us with an insight into the debauched underworld that these three stooges struggle to exist in. This film is quite simply one of the most disturbing pictures I have ever come across. The misogyny and general contempt for mankind here leaves a bitter taste in the mouth sweetened only by the innovative cinematography and wonderfully creative direction of Belgian director Koen Mortier. The content in places is so horrific that it is difficult to be amused by the black humour and we are given not one character to empathise with thus hurrying ones appetite for their inevitably lurid demise. Probably best served with an episode of Friends after the film to ensure that you can sleep OK. Not one for the kiddies.

ruud-35 The discussion about this movie is wide. Some people hate the movie, some people adore it. Probably it will be a movie which will be much more popular in time. For me it was one roller-coaster of laughing and an experience i wont forget for a long time. At the same time i saw people leaving the cinema because of the rough, unpolished use of language. I have been living in Belgium for a few years, which is an advantage to understand the humor of the used dialect. The brilliant thing about the movie is that it is a one on one translation of the writer Herman Brusselmans. I saw the movie and asked myself the question, how would i have directed this book differently. I couldn't find an answer. This is Belgina cinema on his best. A fabulous devastating trip.