Inspetor Faustão e o Mallandro: A Missão (Primeira e Única)

A brazilian masterpiece! The best nonsense comedy of the Brazil. The cast is perfect, the soundtrack is lovely and the script is superb!

Chosen by God - who is Brazilian according to the popular local myth and reinforced during the film - Faustão becomes his new inspector. His mission is to work along with the police in order to protect the animals. There, he is forced into a partnership with the wicked Mallandro, his boss's son.

OK, I need to pause for a moment. If you are not Brazilian, never came by and watched Sunday TV you don't know this duo that were portraying themselves. Let me explain some things. Faustão is the funny guy. OK, Mallandro as well. But Faustão maintained his same show since 1986 in the same TV schedule, same time, same things. To be fair enough, despite a stomach surgery some years ago, he hasn't changed at all. He looks into the camera, makes some word puns and improvises a lot. Every show, instead of pretending nothing happened like in local news, he jumps into the camera and rants when something don't go according to the plan. That's what he was doing in this movie: being himself so people could relate to his funny character and, you know, watch the movie. You probably didn't understand why a Rambo look-a-like just happened to be in the Police Station. He was actually part of his show, in a segment that adapts game shows. In this case, he was the Brazilian bad guy from the Takeshi's Castle adaptation. His 2014 game-show is Dancing With The Stars. Every couple years GLOBO TV changes it a little bit or bring something new. The "Faustão's truck" jokes were also a catch. Let me guide you. Back then, he had this segment where he would give a huge truck filled with refrigerators, TVs and all the basic paraphernalia people need in their houses. People would watch the show, buy something announced and send letters (remember those?) to be picked up. Nowadays this segment is called "Faustão's plane" and they have a clearly advice that the jumbo plane will only bring the prizes, not being part of the prizes itself. I'm not kidding. It's a long running TV show and is clearly formulaic. They tried the same with this movie.

Produced by Xuxa, a blonde skinny ex-model with a childish voice (you might want to watch "Lua de Cristal" as well), this movie is an empty movie filled with an old formula: bring famous people, whoever is "hot" right now, the musical segments no related to the plot, the jokes and the politically correct story.

Mallandro was always the insane guy. He became famous in an also long running Sunday TV show, from SBT. Along with Silvio Santos, he would judge some amateur singers and performers while doing some jokes and crazy interactions with the audience. Mallandro also was the son of a high-ranking office in real life. He would frequently get in trouble until the cops noticed who his stepfather was. He also would often tell about his stepfather in TV shows. Now you're probably getting why they did the things in the movie the way they did. "Character development" I call it.

Faustão's girlfriend works at a zoo where some rare quails where stolen by animal traffickers that used to stay at the same fair he was previously working selling fruits. Thats an obscure joke. Accordingly to a Brazilian popular saying, quails eggs and peanuts are good for man's fertility. Or should I say impotence? No wonder why in the movie's theme song (the one and only reason why I watched it 'till the end) features words such as "pinto" (dick), "eggs" and "I can solve that problem of yours". The dogs names were also a symbol of its time. Inflation and Minimum Wage were the hot topic of the early 80s until 1993.

The movie is completely chaotic and don't make sense at all. I'm not even sure if I can say its funny. There are a lot of song intermissions in a lame night club subplot. The characters don't make sense and strangely enough, don't interact with each other. Only recently, in a 2013 stand up presentation of Mallandro in the Faustão TV show stage, I figured out why. When Mallandro joked about Faustão not giving him any attention since the movie debut, he replied: "We made that thing but we never recorded together! We were never in the same room!" Yeah, the title is about both of them, but they don't get a single frame together. That's how Xuxa Produções works. Make it quickly, just make it and put some big bold names in the movie poster.

I'm just intrigued about how the last segment, the movie theme song, was recorded. Maybe a split screen? Oh, I think I don't really care enough.

Art is not for everyone. The Egg Rap has an iconic place in brazillian history.

Well, this film is a piece of junk, but it deserves a 10 of 10 because it is a synthesis of the mass culture (i.e. junk of the mass culture) at Brazilian 80's.

Sergio Mallandro and Fausto "Faustão" Silva were major TV stars at that time and their success was based in no-sense junked TV shows for the major audiences.

At 2000's, this film - and the whole 80's - is "in fashion" again, when the young adults, remember their infancy with raves called "Trash 80's".

A niece piece of junk (ops, film) to see what made the 80's Brazilian people laugh.

"Inspetor Faustão e o Mallandro" is a film that stands out for several reasons, providing an immersive cinematic experience. The cast's performances are remarkable, contributing to the overall quality of the production. The jokes are well executed, ensuring authentic laughs, and the plot is skillfully constructed, keeping the audience engaged.

The soundtrack is another strong point, with emphasis on the catchy "egg song", which adds a unique dimension to the film's atmosphere. The breaking of the fourth wall is done subtly, providing a closer connection between the characters and the audience.

Furthermore, the film avoids the excessive use of cultural stereotypes, showing sensitivity in the representation of diversity. This respectful approach contributes to the authenticity of the narrative.

Comparing it to other notable Brazilian films, such as "Tropa de Elite" and "Cidade de Deus", it is clear that "Inspector Fautão e o Malandro" deserves its place among the great national productions. With solid performances, intelligent humor and an engaging soundtrack, the film stands out as a valuable contribution to Brazilian cinema.