The Polka King

Maya Forbes has crafted a zippy comedy about a charismatic charlatan and the disastrous impact his fakery has on the rubes gullible enough to fall for his schtick.

This is one of those stories when reality was stranger, and more entertaining, than fiction.

The sporadic magic of The Polka King largely comes from its casting, and the hammy performances that follow.

The Polka King, and Jan’s plight, never quite reaches the level of palpable human drama of their previous effort. Black does his best to make Jan a vulnerable and sympathetic character, but neither the script nor the direction allows him to become fully dimensional.

What’s key is that even though this is a movie about a scoundrel, it’s all very optimistic. Forbes and Wolodarsky keep the frame bright and the filmmaking calls attention to itself only when necessary.

Above all else, this movie is so well-cast that the laugh line makes perfect sense coming from Black.

It’s not that the film doesn’t have an opinion on Lewan, it’s that the opinion seems to change every few scenes.

A funny movie who's greatest strength comes from the performance it's cast. Jack Black brings heart and humour to the lead role in arguably his best performance.

A very interesting story of a Pole who wanted to achieve success at any price. Many Polish traits in one ambitious and somewhat unreasonable guy are definitely an explosive mixture. Jack Black in this role is phenomenal. I recommend!

Funny at times. It was better then I expected it to be. Above average Netflix movie!

Based on a true story The Polka King tells the tale of Polish-American band leader Jan Lewan. Director Maya Forbes keeps things light, painting Lewan as a sympathetic character who was simply blinded by his own ambitions (something I’m not sure the victims of his scheme would all agree with). Jack Black anchors the movie by doing what Jack Black does singing and dancing his way enthusiastically through the film. Everything moves along at a good pace ensuring proceedings always remain entertaining enough but ultimately The Polka King lacks the emotional depth or laugh out loud moments to stick in the mind for very long.

Frankly it leaves an impression for the work of its actors and the characters that the film itself. It only aims to entertain and in a certain way achieves it, but it never exceeds a point of a certain quality, it never reaches for something more and that passivity is not really attractive