I didn't always give this my full attention while watching it, but after a solid start, it didn't command it much, either. There are still funny bits (especially the opening title crawl), and Matti Pellonpaa is great as their "despotic" manager, here a religious fanatic who calls himself Moses. In one of the better scenes, he and Andre Wilms, as a spy-turned-fellow-fanatic, duel using religious proverbs as their weapons. Otherwise, it just doesn't quite catch fire.

A more somber and low-key affair, with fewer jokes and even the music is more downtempo. But I don't think it deserves the low reputation it has. Even at Kaurismaki's worst he's usually fun. There's a number of funny bits as he takes potshots at Christianity, phony evangelists, capitalism, and communism. Okay, so it's not as memorable or endearing as its predecessor, but you've gotta have some love for a movie where someone steals the nose from the Statue of Liberty to take back to Russia.