AllMovie

Ernstfall in Havana is a comedy starring Viktor Giacobbo, Switzerland's Woody Allen. Well, that's a stretch, but that's how Giacobbo was once known by fans of his now defunct TV show, Viktor's Spatprogramm. Here Giacobbo finds himself in Cuba in the role of Stefan Balsiger, a humble paper pusher at the Swiss Embassy. While Balsiger is happy in his work, he's desperate for a little tropical adventure. He gets his chance, unfortunately, when a womanizing American senator arrives for a clandestine visit. Balsiger, straining to play the perfect host, arranges an outing to a Havanna nightclub where his senator winds up getting kidnapped, and before he knows it he has set off an international crisis. Non-Swiss audiences may be hard-pressed to see the humor for Giacobbo relies heavily on a tradition of Swiss schtick established by Walter Roderer, a comedian known for his portrayal of naïve Alp dwellers who are too honest for their own good. The story is also chaotically told, more a series of sketches than a unified whole.