Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Lawbolisted Powerful

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

writers_reign At last this standout has been issued on DVD which is promoting it as the film that introduced the world to Francois Pignon. Perhaps not uncoincidentally the DVD appears at a time when screenwriter Francis Veber has adapted his screenplay - he wasn't yet directing - for the stage with Richard Berry as Ralf Milan and Patrick Timsit as the eponymous pain in the ass. In an interview printed in the program for the play Veber speculates on why Billy Wilder's remake, Buddy, Buddy, was so disappointing; Veber suggests that Walter Matthau had such a backlog of outstanding comedy roles behind him that it was difficult to accept him as a dispassionate hit-man. There's probably something in what Veber says because the opposite is true of Lino Ventura who LOOKS dangerous and had an equally impressive backlog as a gangster in French polars. One early scene illustrates this perfectly; driving to his assignment he stops in a diner and inadvertently parks in front of a large camion. When the trucker, a big guy, gets ready to leave he lets out a squawk when he is unable to get out. The counterman taps Ventura as the culprit and suggests he move his car but quick. 'I'm finishing my coffee' he says quietly, the juggernaut jockey springs forward to confront him face to face. 'I'm finishing my coffee' says Ventura just as quietly and just as menacingly and the big guy backs down. It's difficult to imagine Matthau being as effective as that, Lee Marvin, no problem. The plot obeys all the rules of farce in which one person or even a group of people have a deadly serious objective and are single minded in trying to achieve it whilst a chain of unconnected events spin out of control around them preventing the task from being accomplished. Milan has been hired by the mob to take out a witness when he is brought into the court at exactly two.p.m. and he clings to that objective tenaciously despite the chaos surrounding him initiated by Francois Pignon, Jacques Brel. Veber's screenplay is so tightly constructed that it hardly matters that Jacques Brel is to acting what Jim Carrey is to Greek Tragedy. Veber's masterstroke is to delay the revelation that this is a farce by spending a whole reel establishing a polar and only gradually permitting his real intention to become evident. Even after twenty years it still comes up fresh.

michelerealini "L'Emmerdeur" (1973) is the French movie which originated a US remake directed by Willy Wilder -"Buddy Buddy" (1981), starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. It was the last Wilder movie, not bad at all, but this original one is far better.French star Lino Ventura and Belgian singer Jacques Brel were friends, they shot their first film together with Claude Lelouch "L'aventure c'est l'aventure". They wanted to team again and chose established comedy director Edouard Molinaro for adapting this movie, written by Francis Veber -who later became another master of French comedy...A gangster named Milan takes a room in a Montpellier hotel, which is located in front of a Tribunal. He has a mission -shooting from his window for killing the key witness of a trial. In the room next to his there's a man, François Pignon, who is desperate instead. he wants to commit suicide because his wife quit him. The meeting of the two originates a series of accidents and misunderstandings...!The comedy is excellent, with two actors in a really good shape. The highlight is that Brel and Ventura characters are so different and have nothing in common. Each, in his own side, is not funny -one is serious and cold, the other is sad and loser. BUT their combination is absolutely comical. (The way Brel calls Ventura -"Monsieur Milan!"- is irresistible!)It's a high quality comedy, one of the most famous ever made in France. Edouard Molinaro directed other great comedies -among them two films with Louis De Funès and "La Cage aux folles", the gay comedy starring Michel Serrault and Ugo Tognazzi. Molinaro is at ease in making "L'Emmerdeur", many scenes are also shot by himself carrying a camera on his shoulder...But the other leading person behind this film is, as already said, Francis Veber. His lines and situations are typical of the comedies he'll direct later -among them "La chèvre" with Depardieu and Pierre Richard, "Le diner des cons" and "Le placard". There's his recognizable style of creating strange situations -Veber likes putting in his films two completely different actors and creating comical situations from that.Another thing: Jacques Brel's character is called François Pignon. It's the same name Veber uses in his other films for one of the two leading roles -the name itself has become synonym of an awkward, unlucky, naive and a little stupid person...!

pierrealix This Movie came out in France after summer 73 and become quick one of the biggest hit ever in this country.. because it starred Lino ventura ,by far the most beloved french actor (although from Italian origin)in the funny character of a poor hitman who just cant do his job..people were delighted to see this tough guy annoyed by Jacques Brel although no one understood why he didnt strangle him at the third minute...But the incredibly bad acting by singer Brel makes this movie a never-ending bore. Strictly for Ventura Fans.

Jabberwock This film essentially is a study of characters between a loser (Jacques Brel) and a hit man (Lino Ventura).This film, like many French comedies, has a Hollywood counterpart, "Buddy Buddy", with Walther Mathau and Jack Lemmon. Although not bad, the remake is nevertheless deceptive, as we were expecting much more from a movie in which the two principal characters are played by such great actors.