Remember Bumper, the a capella jerk from Pitch Perfect, played by Adam Devine? In November 2022, he spun off into his own tv series, Bumper in Berlin.
The only other male character in the regular cast is Pieter Kramer (Flula Borg, below). Not many opportunities for buddy-bonding gay subtexts here, but Adam is one of most handsome men on Earth, and Flula is one of the most muscular, so maybe I'll watch with the sound off just for the face and physique. Besides, the episodes have cute German titles like Backpfeifengesicht (face in need of a fist -- sounds like Bumper).
Scene 1: Bumper singing a capella with some old guys. "Baby, I'll show you how a real queen behaves." Not necessary -- I've seen Kelvin. "You may think I'm weak without a sword, but if I had one, it'd be bigger than yours." Tell me more about your...um, sword, Bumper.
"If all the kings had queens on their throne, we'd toast champaign...I'll be your queen." Girlfriend, that's as homoerotic as a song gets. Did you forget that you're not playing Kelvin?
Lights go up. This is a rehearsal for Bumper's new group, the Tonehangers. They'll be performing at a retirement center next month. Whoa, the old people won't know what hit them.
The other guys have to go -- wives, kids, stuff to do. Bumper claims that he has stuff to do, too, but actually he's all alone. I hate the heterosexist equation of wife and kids with success, but I'll give it a pass due to the homoerotic song. And he's working as a security guard at his old college but he's still planning on becoming a famous singer, somehow. Bummer, Bumper.
Scene 2: Bumper is locking up as part of his security guard duties, when he gets a phone call from Germany: a fan of his college performances and his recent appearances on game shows and Tik-Tok. "Wait -- how do you know all this?" Bumper asks, horrified. "Are you a pervert?" Come on, dude, any fan would know those things. I know that Adam was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Well, to be fair, I just remember it because my home town is nearby.
"I'm a pervert for talent," the voice says --revealed to be Pieter Kramer. "We have met before." Turns out that he belonged to Das Sound Machine, a rival a capella group. "You are a big Tik Tok star in Germany." His TikTok involved making funny faces while singing the very sad song "Neun und neunsig Luftballon." "You got 7.6 million views!"
"That's like a million views!" Bumper exclaims.
Pieter wants him to move to Berlin and become his client. "It's all happening!" he exclaims. "All of those failures were worth it, because now I'll never fail again." Har-har.
Scene 3: Bumper arrives at a horrible, graffiti-filled, run-down building in Berlin. Pieter greets him. They hug; Bumper is so excited that he won't let go, but to his credit, Pieter does not recoil in homophobic contempt.
Upstairs to his horrible office with a window facing the train tracks. Pieter's assistant Heidi arrives: Sarah Hylund, who played Adam's girlfriend on Modern Family! I guess we know where the sparks will fly.
An American, an airhead, she gives him American cheese (almost impossible to find in Germany) and a caffeine pill (to avoid jet lag). Sparks fly.
Pieter has prepared a comic strip of Bumper's path to superstardom, culminating in a gig as "the hottest new singer" at German Unity Day in two months.
Scene 4: The three walking through Brandenburg Gate, getting a sandwich from a food truck: "It's made with dead animals." "Oh, it's meat."
They arrive at the horrible youth hostel where Bumper will be staying. The scary lady manager scowls at him: "I truly am meeting you." Har-har. They want to leave him alone in his horrible dorm to "get some rest," but he wants to go with them: "I'll get nervous if I'm alone." And scared of the scary lady?
A Techno-Goth Club after the break
Scene 5: A techno-Goth club, very busy for the middle of the day. Two guys smooching in the hallway. Is this where Bumper meets the German Keefe? We follow two guys holding hands to the main dance floor, but they're not focus characters. Switch to Bumper being all enthusiastic, but scared of the various dangling bodies.
Bumper dances to strobe lights while Pieter goes to the DJ booth. DJ Das Boot ("the boat") is wearing a weird mushroom helmet so we can't tell their gender. Pieter claims that he has an amazing American talent, but they aren't interested. (More guys smooching in the background. This party is lit, although I don't like the association of gay and decadent.)
Helmet comes off -- the DJ a woman. Pieter's sister! She tells Bumper that he has a face deserving of a slap! "Yeah, I get that a lot." Well, he was a sexist jerk in college, so he probably got slapped a lot. He tries to impress her by singing "Total Eclipse of the Heart." Really? Sing "Sympathy for the Devil," Dude.
"You can't turn your back on family!" Pieter exclaims. "Besides, no one else will work with me." She still refuses: "Sorry, I can't give up my artistic integrity. But let's have dinner next week."
Wait -- no one will work with you. What the fudge? Pieter comes clean: "We had a lip syching scandal. It's Germany's second greatest shame." "What's the greatest?" Bumper begins. "Oh, right ...."
Turns out that Bumper isn't famous after all. The guys that recognized him on the street remembered his "penis falling out" video, not his Tik-Tok. So these two underdogs were made for each other. They don't have any homoerotic chemistry, though.
But Bumper is stuck in Germany with no money, no passport (he threw it out, thinking it was a one-use thing), no connections, and no job. "I've been disappointed a lot," Bumper says, "By friends, by unfrosted cereal, by the color of my own peepee. But never by a random German guy." Does he mean his penis or his urine?
Scene 6: Bumper in his horrible dorm room, dreaming about his various failures. He wakes up screaming. He confides in the Scary Manager, who responds. "If it's any consolation, you're going to die someday."
So, what does Heidi advise about Bumper's problem? "Trust Pieter -- his heart is in the right place. Go to your first gig, tomorrow at the Pretzel Festival"
"Sorry, what were you saying? I was busy planning the party for our 50th wedding anniversary."
Scene 7: Bumper at the Pretzel Festival. He's on after the opening act: Gisela, Pieter's ex-girlfriend!
Beefcake: Some cute guys here and there, but the fantastically muscular Flula never fiddles with a button. Frequently naked German superstar Moritz Bleibtreu has a cameo, so here are some nude photos.
Heterosexism: Nope. Bumper doesn't get the girl.
Gay Characters: The guys smooching at the techno club. Heidi and DJ Das Boot are bisexual, and go out on a date in a later episode.
Gay Subtexts: Yep.
Bumper: Much nicer and more sympathetic than in Pitch Perfect. I guess they thought that a sexist jerk couldn't be the focus character of a whole tv series. Haven't they seen Vice Principals?
My Grade: Funnier than Pitch Perfect, with less casual homophobia, and nice shots of Berlin. And of course, Adam Devine is in every scene. A
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