In the 1980s, Gunther Strobbe (Kenneth Vanbaeden) is a thirteen-year-old boy living with his father, Celle (Koen De Graeve), his three uncles Petrol, Breeje, Koen, (Wouter Hendrickx, Johan Heldenbergh, and Bert Haelvoet respectively) and his mother Meetje (Gilda De Bal). Celle works part-time as a postman, while his brothers are boozing layabouts who live off their mother's pension. The men of this family spend their days drinking beer and eating sausage, breaking things, playing pranks on people, and chasing women. In the present day, Gunther has made a career as a writer when his girlfriend suddenly falls pregnant with a son—apprehensive of his new responsibilities, Gunther seeks out his father and his uncles for some advice on fatherhood.
The chief film critic of The New York Times, Manohla Dargis, wrote: "The revelation of the adult Gunther’s thinking and being – he’s callous, near brutal to his girlfriend – is extremely well managed and shows just how subtle this loud, seemingly rough tale really is."[1]Variety described the film as starting out as an "extremely lowbrow comedy" but later "morphing into a bittersweet meditation on whether familial love and pride are enough to sustain a proper upbringing."[3]LA Weekly compared the film to mixing "the visual exuberance of Trainspotting with the familial pathos of Angela’s Ashes".[4]
