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As Good As It Gets

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Turkish TV writer Gani Müjde ("Kahpe Bizans") re-teams with Faith Solmaz and fellow scribe Emre Bülbül for this curious little political satire which quickly loses its way in misjudged rom-com clichés that do much to detract from the admittedly rather mixed message at the heart of the film and indeed the country itself.The film kicks off with the apparent death in childhood of the country's revered republican founder and national hero Kemel Atatürk before jumping forward to the year 2007 where we find that the sick man of Europe in the hands of a buffoonish Sultan who is a mere puppet in the hands of the devilish Western powers until love gives he the strength to say stand up.Turkish comedian Ata Demirer plays the modern day Sultan with world-weary relish but fails to generate chemistry with 2005 Golden Orange award winner Vildan Atasever ("2 Girls") whilst eccentric Hulk Hogan look-alike Sümer Tilmaç heads a largely overlooked supporting cast of Ruhsar Öcal, Ali Düsenkalkar and Müjde's wife Belma Canciger on top form.The seemingly indecisive director has an intriguing "What If…" scenario as a backdrop, which he thoroughly fails to explore as much of the film is given over to a completely unconvincing romance before this too is forgotten in favour of a patriotic fervour which is in turn thrown away for a disappointing dénouement that wipes the few laughs had along the way."You can't join EU with this barbaric behaviour!"

I see many people regarded this movie as an insult to the mightiness of the Devlet-i alâ Osmanlı (The Great Empire of Ottoman)... No, it isn't. It simply aims to make people ask one of those magical questions, that begin with "What if?". And for those who can't answer by himself, the director gives his answer: It would be a tragedy.I don't know in what mood did those people watch the movie, or their level of knowledge and capability of understanding the history. Or even whether they watched the movie before making comments here, or did they just read the pilot and raged. But I can't help wondering; how would Ottoman be able to re-gain its freedom, after it completely lost it, after all the troops were dissolved and everything is captured by the Great Forces of the World? How? Many nations around the world would like to hear about your big idea. There are numberless examples for these kind of situations throughout the history.Gani Müjde doesn't insult the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman was one of the greatest empires of the world, once. But when the golden-haired little boy (at the beginning and the end of the movie) grew old enough to be sent to Samson, as an army officer with a command to dissolve all the troops that were resisting against the invasion, and to collect all the weapons and the ammunitions they had, Ottoman was just a "Dying Man". And the vultures were flying over this dying man desirously, to get their shares as soon as possible. But Mustafa Kemal didn't only disobey the command, but he also did the opposite and united the small troops and people from all ages, all regions of Anatolia together and created a great army from the ashes of Ottoman.Some may say, if there were no Mustafa Kemal at all, Turkish nation would have created another Ataturk anyhow. (For those who are not familiar with Turkish history; Mustafa Kemal's surname wasn't Ataturk at the time of Independence War of Turks. Turks didn't use surnames until 1934. His surname was given by the Counsil of Republic of Turkey in 1934.) They are right in some points, I must admit. Even in Ataturk's time, there were another heroes who helped him in his "adventure". But ask yourself this question, people: How would today's Anatolia be like, if Mustafa Kemal obeyed the command given to him, and did his job with all his strength? Today we would be haunting his name, for he just did his job. One way, or another. This great commander held the fate of his nation in his hands, and he managed to save his nation. We have to admit, he did a great job, by not doing his actual job.So, could the movie have been better? Sure. One point that i didn't like about the movie is the accents of the foreign people. When they speak English, it is obvious that they are Turkish actors, who are trying to speak English like a native speaker. And when they speak Turkish, again it is obvious that they are Turkish actors who are trying to speak Turkish like a non-native speaker. I would have acted there, if Gani Müjde asked me to. Although i am not a native speaker of English neither, my accent is far better than those.And the make up... One can clearly see that most of the people's beard and mustache (like Ibrahim Pasha's) were simply glued onto their faces. Considering that this is not a low-budged movie, it is hard to understand why they didn't give any importance to this.And finally, those "funny" characters in a coffee-house in Ankara? The ones that seem like they have escaped from a child play. What was it all about? Trying to make explosives from animal feces? Like the explosives made of fertilizer. Get out of here! They didn't make the movie a comedy at all, they made it a bunk. Without that so-called funny scenes, Gani Müjde could have made it a drama, and it would be far better than this.To sum up; this movie has both good and bad points. It doesn't seem to be #1 in top 250, but it is still worth watching. Maybe people who don't know anything about the Independence War of Turks may find some points difficult to understand. But it is absolutely not fair to claim that it is just a waste of time. At least I don't feel like I've wasted my time.

I watched this film las week. I was wondering that film..it said that '' if Ataturk isn't been'' always. someone have to film that idea and have to make good ..of course that person may be Gani Müjde. if I choice that person you can sure I would choice Gani Müjde. because I had seen 'Kahpe Bizans' and I had liked and laughed.. I thought that movie must be like that.. But I couldn't find my expectations in the film. Film is like theater game..there is no crowd at scenes , visually .I thin it used low budge for movie.That idea deserves more budge. there is unnecessary love story in movie too Osman VII between a girl who is resistance. Ata Demirer said that ''they didn't use me'' too. I mean there is a lot of absents in that film..intent is good ,idea is good but movie is not good enough..

As I was just praising Turkish movies how they have been successful recently and more and more quality movies have been produced I got hit by this ''Osmanli Cumhuriyeti'' disaster. Although movie claims itself as a comedy and drama, it is actually not. There is nothing in this movie, NOTHING. It's not a comedy, it is not a drama, it is certainly not a documentary. Director Gani Mujde should do all of us a favor not to direct any more movies. Just quit directing movies like this and go back to writing that he is great at. Instead of being a horrible movie director just be a great humorist. Another embarrassment is seeing Faith Solmaz as a screen writer in this movie. Such a great humorist became a part of this poor movie.