The Ketchup Effect

Infobox Film
name = The Ketchup Effect A.K.A. Hip Hip Hora!


image_size = 240 px
caption = DVD cover for Hip Hip Hora
director = Teresa Fabik
producer = Lars Blomgren
writer = Teresa Fabik
narrator =
starring = Amanda Renberg (Sofie)
Filip Berg (Sebbe)
Marcus Hasselborg (Mouse)
music = Jacob Groth
cinematography = Pär M. Ekberg
editing = Sofia Lindgren
distributor = [http://www.nonstopsales.net NonStop Sales AB]
[http://www.sandrewmetronome.se Sandrew Metronome Distribution Sverige AB]
released = flagicon|Sweden January 26, 2004
flagicon|UK March 10, 2006
runtime = 90 m
country = Sweden
language = Swedish
budget =
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website = http://www.hiphiphora.com
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0385751

"Hip Hip Hora!", known as "The Ketchup Effect" in most English-speaking countries, is a 2004 teen Swedish movie, directed by Teresa Fabik.

Plot

Friends and future seventh-graders Sofie, Amanda and Emma anxiously await the start of term, when they'll be entering Upper Secondary School. This is educationally no large change, but a social watershed moment when cliques come into play in force, serious boy/girlfriends start appearing, and students, to hear them tell it, leave behind childish things to move into teenagerhood; certainly the three girls are confident in how very grown up they now are.

Sofie develops a crush on Mouse, a ninth-grader and the local heartthrob. Mouse takes slight notice of her and tells her about an upcoming party. There he tries to hook up Sofie with Sebbe, a relatively quiet and awkward boy from his group. Sebbe and Sofie end up alone and drunk in a bedroom. At the prodding of his friends Sebbe asks for a blow job, which Sofie refuses to do; then Sebbe requests a hand job, which she agrees to do but doesn't know how. He compares the act to emptying a plastic ketchup bottle. Ideally he would have described it more accurately; in a scene featuring prosthetic frontal male nudity, Sofie grabs his penis and delivers a few sharp strikes with her palm. The situation then breaks up.

After this situation, knowing that Sebbe has been hurt, Sofie leaves the room and gets extremely drunk. Mouse then proceeds to take advantage of what has occurred by assaulting her, even though she is passed out. The guys take pictures of her in compromising positions, but Sebbe holds back from joining in. The next day, there are pictures all over the place of her and Mouse is spreading rumors about her. Every time she has to go past him, he and his friends grab her inappropriately. To the teachers, it looks like he has a harmless crush on her. Her dad finds out because someone sent him a picture anonymously. He then says that if she didn't dress so provocatively, maybe the guys wouldn't respond in such a crude manner. Sofie leaves and is at the subway station when she runs into Sebbe again. They see Mouse coming and so they run to his room at his house. They have the awkward first conversation, as Sebbe knows more of what went on than she did. They listen to some of his music and he actually starts to hit on her a bit. At one point, they are at the subway station and he compliments her boobs, something she doesn't appreciate and leaves. He realizes he's said the wrong thing, but it's too late.

Sofie's best friends don't understand what is going on with her. They hear what other students say about her and since they are freshmen, they care what others think of them too. They effectually dump her as a friend and try to get accepted into the 'in crowd' at school, which means becoming friends with Beatrice, the queen bee. They get invited to a party at someone's house. Sofie manages to get to where the party is, univited. She enters and her friends ignore her. She goes to a window and jumps. After a short period of time, she is seen going to the hospital, with Amanda running after the ambulance before they let her in. Sofie is in the hospital, not paralysed, but unable to move. Her dad arrives at the hospital and when Amanda tries to open up to him, he turns a blind eye and goes straight to his daughter's side. After she returns home, Amanda and Emma repeatedly call her cell phone, but she refuses to answer it. Eventually they come to her house, where Sofie tells them off because they did not stand by her like good friends should.

Sofie eventually returns to her school, deciding not to transfer, and dressed the way a high school freshman should be. She sees Mouse again and, as a safeguard against future assault, injures him in the groin. Everyone in the school is laughing at him and his friends do not stand behind him right away. After Sofie and her friends run away, Sebbe runs after them too, wanting to talk to her. He proceeds to apologize and tells her that he likes her a lot. He also asks if they can go out to dinner, and she accepts. The final scene shows the two eating dinner, with a bottle of ketchup on the table.

Cast

*Amanda Renberg ... Sofie
*Björn Kjellman ... Krister
*Ellen Fjæstad ... Amanda
*Linn Persson ... Emma
*Filip Berg ... Sebbe
*Marcus Hasselborg ... Mouse
*Björn Davidsson ... Jens
*Carla Abrahamsen ... Beatrice
*Robin Lindbom... Loka
*Manuel Bjelke ... Manuel
*Margareta Pettersson ... Headmaster
*Cattis Olsen ... School welfare officer
*Ulrika Dahllöf ... Teacher
*Josephine Bauer ... Åsa
*Cecilia Ljung ... Amanda's mother (scenes deleted)

Awards

*Teresa Fabik won the Amanda award for Best Nordic Newcomer in 2004
*Sofia Lindgren won Guldbagge Award for Best Achievement for editing in 2005

Pop Culture

*There is a poster of South Park on a wall.
*In the US, there is a movie clip of the scene where Sebbe explains how to give a handjob, he explains it using getting the ketchup out of a bottle metaphor.

DVD Release

* The movie was released on DVD in Finland on March 11, 2005