Allan Karlson (Robert Gustafsson) is the titular character in The 100-Year-Old Man…. Living that long, he meets a lot of interesting people, like a Spanish communist who can’t keep his mouth shut. Fast forward to the present day, when he inadvertently steals money from three bikers (Jens Hultén, Sven Lönn, Bianca Cruzeiro) who seem dangerous. He doesn’t see this as theft and more like property exchanging hands, and he gets a few bystanders into some good trouble. One of them is Julius (Iwar Wiklander), also at the mercy of the bikers until Allan helps him get rid of one of them for good. The two others are Benny (David Wiberg), an almost veterinarian and Gunilla (Mia Skäringer), harboring an elephant. The 100-Year-Old Man… goes back and forth between timelines, showing how the past helps out people in the present.

The film builds itself around a character who exists as an excuse for it to live out past scenarios. It’s successful despite its protagonist, whose motivation during his century is to blow things up. Maybe, I’m not giving Allan enough credit, because he does fall in and out of love with bombs, maybe The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And... needs to dig into that more. Or maybe it already does, since bombs are the definitive invention of the past troubled century. That’s probably where it gets its satirical teeth from although I wish it would brandish that more. I also am watching this film with some bias but as I write that, the flashbacks are more interesting. The present day scenes feel too mundane, with the exception of the elephant scenes.

Director and writer Felix Herngren and co-writer Hans Ingemansson got this film’s unruly plot from a Jonas Jonasson’s novel. Again, I prefer the flashbacks in The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared despite its flaws. A lot of this is wacky. And the English narration makes no sense until I realized that that exists for English speaking viewers. Some of the flashback scenes do seem like filler, leaving a lot of plot threads open. But don’t worry, it’ll all make sense eventually. These flashbacks, though, are where The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed… shines, especially its more technical aspects. The hair and makeup is convincing at most times in Allan’s life, especially in the third act as he plays middle aged. And yes, maybe Allan and the world around him don’t get interesting as he gets older, but at least he helps viewers have their fun.

Stream The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared on OVID.