If this gamer wants to chase his e-sport dream, he'll have to ‘Try Hard’

When Sebastian’s parents tell him to give up gaming and get a job or move out, he decides to start a professional e-sports team. But the road ahead has plenty of bumps in this Danish comedy.

Four young men sit in a dark room. All are wearing headphones and sitting at computers.

Ari Alexander in 'Try Hard'. Credit: Andreas Omvik / Viaplay

There comes a time in every young person’s life where they have to take their first steps out into the wider world. And while Sebastian (Ari Alexander) has put it off as long as possible, his parents have given the Danish 23-year-old an ultimatum: either he stops sitting around their house playing games on his computer and gets a job, or he moves out.

Sebastian doesn’t take this well, in large part because the only way to get his attention was to pull the plug on his gaming system just as he was about to level up. And he does have a plan for his future; it’s just that the rest of his family don’t think that getting rich by playing video games is realistic. Or plausible. Or ever going to happen.

Gaming isn’t really the focus of Try Hard. It’s a comedy about a group of man-children desperate to avoid the adult world; they just happen to be using video games as their way to escape. And it’s difficult not to sympathise with Sebastian when he goes on about not wanting to get stuck in a loveless marriage, worrying about his pension plan like his parents. His mother even tells him there’s nothing wrong with coming from a mediocre family. Never let it be said they had big dreams for him.

Four young men stand in a room with pink and orange lighting. One of them is holding a computer monitor.

Sebastian (Ari Alexander) and friends. Credit: Andreas Raun / Viaplay

So for Sebastian, video games aren’t just a pastime - they’re an escape. Together with his best friend Henrik (Patrick A. Hansen), they’re both loyalty members at Play It Alive. That means they mind the shop – the kind of business that feels more like a clubhouse for a bunch of regulars who never seem to leave – and play the games for free while the boss is in Thailand.

Those regulars include Kasim (Mohamed Djeziri), who everyone thinks is a criminal because of racism. There’s also Gustav (Niclas Vessel Kølpin), who’s old enough to have a pregnant wife but not mature enough to stop lying to her about his constant gaming. The youngest of the bunch is Toke (Alexander Magnússon), who’s happy to commit crimes because being “white and cute” breaks down the stereotype of what a criminal looks like.

Throw in a few antagonists – the racist service station owner next door, Gustav’s perpetually suspicious wife Carina (Lise Baastrup) – and you’ve got a strong basis for an old-fashioned hangout sitcom where every episode ends with the gang right back where they started. But Try Hard has bigger targets in its sights.

Henrik – clearly the brains of the group – thinks it’s worth following up on the whole “get a real job” thing and persuades Sebastian to take a trip to the local careers fare. While Henrik is distracted by Solvej (Maria Winther Nørgaard), who is vigorously milking a wooden stool with teats attached (it’s to promote a career in the dairy industry), Sebastian stumbles into a former big-time gamer turned community college teacher who lets him know that, if he can get a team together, they can enter the upcoming Crazy LAN Randers tournament, where the big e-sport scouts go looking for new talent. Sebastian’s dream is about to become… a lot of hard work.

A young man in mint green hoodie and black and white jacket drags a trailer along a street. A computer monitor can be seen among the bags and baskets in the trailer.

A nice guy with a dream: Sebastian (Ari Alexander). Credit: Andreas Omvik / Viaplay

Confident but deluded, a committed believer in his own blurry vision, Sebastian is the kind of comedy character you can’t really go wrong with. Well, you can if you’re his friend and you get sucked into his schemes, but as a viewer he strikes just the right balance between someone you’re frustrated by and someone you want to cheer on. He’s not arrogant, or smarmy; he’s a nice guy who just gets a little worked up when the world doesn’t realise the genius of his plan.

Over eight episodes, he’s got a lot to get worked up about. The road to Crazy LAN Randers is a long and bumpy one for his team (possibly named just “The Team”), with new obstacles constantly coming between them and their dreams of gaming fame and fortune.

If it’s not rats running loose in Play it Alive, it’s the ups and downs of Henrik’s relationship with Solvej. Gaming costs money, there’s tensions within the group, and it’s possible they just might not be all that good at this whole video game thing.

And then there’s those scenes in the opening episode where Sebastian is being interrogated by a police officer. They’re set four months into the future; how could things have gone so wrong that the threat of jail time is now hanging over his head?

Come to think of it, it’d probably be more surprising if he didn’t end up behind bars.

Try Hard is streaming now at SBS On Demand.