Bizarre comedy with a large dose of dry humour. The film was produced by Aki Kaurismäki and no one will be surprised that Ripa Hits the Skids displays the sardonic and entertaining tone we know from his films.The legendary anti-hero of this début film is Ripa, a cadging would-be film-maker who is chronically lazy and addicted to beer and sex. Dirty old Ripa and his beer-belly would like tomake films, but his projects have too much sex and violence to convince a real producer. He lives from the money he has wheedled out of his embittered ex-wife and from time to time he gets some money from a gay porn director. When the latter expects something in return in the form of a role in a gay hard-porn film, Ripa recoils. He is meanwhile involved in an affair with a sexually-insatiable bank employee and he tries at all costs to prevent his beloved 1963 Mercedes being impounded by some creditor. Things can’t go on like this and within a week Ripa really hits the skids.Most attention in the black & white Ripa Hits the Skids is focused on the stunning leading role played by Sam Huber. The film has already been compared with Kaurismäki’s La Vie de Bohème, another film about the seamy side of art.
