A Pain in the Ass

Editorial

Two Frenchmen walk into a film, one is a gormless ninny who will swiftly upset the other one's applecart. Très prolific writer-director Francis Veber has been mining this same slapstick strangers gag since Napoleon was a lad but, incredibly, the guy who gave us The Dinner Game and The Closet keeps finding funny new ways to rip himself off.

Hollywood has virtually made a mini genre out of remaking Veber's catalogue — from The Birdcage to Father's Day — and you can give Tinseltown a few minutes before it clones this highly entertaining romp of hitman lunacy.

Veber's trademark idiot character, François Pignon, is here played by Patrick Timsit, a fine comic sculpted to be an aggravating yet likeable loser.

Well-practiced at swift set-ups, Veber expertly sends suicidal Pignon in to annihilate the precise preparations of assassin "Jean Milan" (Richard Berry). Not as well-known to international audiences as Veber's other leading men, unrelenting bozo Timsit and harangued hired gun Berry are a perfect fit for the silly exchanges, exasperating confines and knockabout pratfalls which effortlessly unfold. Laughter barely lets up as Veber's light touch and way with screwball standards (co-stars are sporadic yet punchy) guarantees Gallic giggle fans a wholly satisfying experience.