A spy spoof where the hero is a low-brow and self-important tough guy? Well, we're nowhere close to a genius idea, yet it proves to be a really fine approach when depicting racial/sexual prejudices in that big jaw-dropping mouth of OSS117.
Unfortunately he will never be made to look altogether ridiculous. His female sidekick has the unredeeming part of standing one foot in reality while listening to the French agent's abysmal puns without ever punching him in the mouth.
All this stuffy stuff is a big joke, OSS117 is a funny a**hole (at least he thinks he's funny) and nothing is serious. The movie ends up as stupid as its main character, except for a couple of fine one-liners. I suppose we can call this a success as long as there is an audience willing to revere in dumb and dumber bouts of action canned with zero respect for the craft of visual storytelling. A full bag of (mostly) terrible jokes will never make up for the skills of polishing a storyline and building characters, even stupid characters. Even more über stupid characters.
Unfortunately he will never be made to look altogether ridiculous. His female sidekick has the unredeeming part of standing one foot in reality while listening to the French agent's abysmal puns without ever punching him in the mouth.
All this stuffy stuff is a big joke, OSS117 is a funny a**hole (at least he thinks he's funny) and nothing is serious. The movie ends up as stupid as its main character, except for a couple of fine one-liners. I suppose we can call this a success as long as there is an audience willing to revere in dumb and dumber bouts of action canned with zero respect for the craft of visual storytelling. A full bag of (mostly) terrible jokes will never make up for the skills of polishing a storyline and building characters, even stupid characters. Even more über stupid characters.