La cité de la peur

Having "discovered" Alain Chabat only a couple of days ago I didn't know if I would like this film, despite all the other good comments it got. This is because I don't speak French. I watched the French version with English subtitles, because it wasn't available with German ones. And I can deeply assure everyone who thinks about seeing this piece of art: Do it! It's hilarious, wild, crazy and above all French! After only five minutes into the film I had tears of laughter running down my cheek. I think nobody will fail to notice the huge amount of jokes in this film, if you know any French or not. Most of the comedy is of physical nature, there are of course some puns but never mind. Just go and see it. Or better buy it instantly as you will want to see it over and over again! I promise!

La cité de la peur is a really funny movie. It's funny because of the good acting, the solid script. The scenario itself is a joke. I'm writing this comment in English but could have done it in French, since many gags must be impossible to translate, so you definitely should understand French. This movie shows the particular sense of humour of "Les Nuls", a group of humorists, which I do like. To my mind, it's the best French comedy since "Le père Noël est une ordure", which will make you laugh from start to end.

In this movie that i saw at least a hundred times, you just laugh every 5 seconds !! This kind of humour is really great, actors are so funny and so good... For somebody who wants to know how french humour is, go see it, you won't be disappointed :+)

"Les Nuls" (actors and writers in this movie) started in a TV show (a kind of the "Saturday Night Live" on french TV Canal+) and have decided to end their TV adventure by making a film. "La Cité de la peur" can be seen if one doesn't know their TV shows: it's terrific, very funny. But there are too some personal references which develop the comic of the situations. In summary, everybody loves this film: a cult film that I have seen a lot of times. I think that I will watch it during all my life!!

This for sure is my favorite movie. What I really love is that there are jokes, puns, movie references & all almost all the time, and that, unlike in a lot of big production movies, can easily go by unnoticed. That's why even if I've seen this movie tons of times, I still can find some new ones. That's also why some people say you should watch it several times to really find it funny. Actually the best thing to do is to watch it with the remote in your hand, to be able to pause at any time to read all the stupid things that have been hidden.

I don't know about the translation, but I bet watching it in any other language than French must ruin quite a lot of puns. Also I don't know whether all the stuffs written in the different scenes are also translated.

I know a lot of people who just like me have watched that movie over and over and know most of the script by heart, and would from time to time repeat some of it in real life. You can also find tons of references of the movie all over the Internet, in blogs and comments.

On the other hand, I know of people who just find that movie quite poor, without any interest, and I can understand them. The jokes are quite often stupid like "(showing a picture) Is this your husband?" "No it's my dog." "Oh yeah, of course...Talk to me about him." "He was a really nice dog..." "No, about your husband". Of course it's stupid to ask whether the dog is her husband, and of course it's stupid to tell about the dog. So some people will definitely find this movie stupid, but others, like me, will like it. Just a note about the jokes: they may be stupid, but unlike in some movies, they are not gross.

So eventually, if you're French or have a really good French level, and feel like the previous joke can indeed be funny, you definitely have to watch that movie. If you find it lame, don't. As for if you don't speak French but still find that joke funny, well, just keep in mind the movie won't be as funny as it should be, but it should still be quite funny.