Le père Noël est une ordure

Everyone in France knows this movie by heart. Sure, most jokes must be very hard to translate, and may seem very rude (Je t'encule, Thèrèse !), but there is quite a solid story, the acting is excellent and Jean Marie Poiré is at his best. Even Michel Blanc who is not appearing in the movie ( only a voice on phone) is good. The dreaded Anemone is really fun (once in her life) and for Josiane Balasko it is her very best movie ( except maybe for "les hommes préfèrent les grosses"). Not to mention the wonderful Bruno Moynot and Martin Lamotte. Too bad we don't see them more often on the screen. Too bad, too, France will never more produce such jewel, but annoying Asterix, and other visitors. Looks like Christian Clavier by itself is no fun and Alain Chabat is not very good ( I never liked him, nor "les nuls". Le père Noël may be qualified minimalist, or cheap production, but it is THE french movie of the 20th century. I gave it a 10, and I'm going to watch it one more time ( maybe the 200th time)

you can realize that this movie is great just looking at this title. How a christmas night can become the most hilarious movie in French History. Written and played by the friends of the "Splendid" before they split and make other less funny flicks, le pere Noel is a trash look at surrealistic characters who are going to live the most incredible christmas day of their life in the office of "SOS détresses amitié", a phone service in charge to help people feel better . The american remake "mixed nuts" is a shame, that's why, if you haven't see this masterpiece yet, try to get it by all means (legally).

This is one of these films in your country that for some reason, somehow, has transformed into a national treasure. People will immediately dislike you and frown at you when you recall how you don't think it's a good film. They'll immediately think there's something wrong with you, when really the film isn't even that defensible, it's not like the film is amazing on any level or anything, it's just a crowd favorite. Objectively, this comedy is well enough constructed in that it allows for wacky scenarios to take place and go berserk from there, all sorts of strange happenings in subplots that eventually connect. The gags are those of a prude society of the time (early 80's) liberating itself with silly, stuck-up eruptions of vulgarity whether verbally or through act. It isn't really funny, most of the comedy here being cheap sex-oriented, taboo type humor. It's barely entertaining at all to watch now, moving back from it in the later decades, but at one point this was the absolute blast of absolute blasts, and it's hard to even imagine this is the same Jean-Marie Poiré who, a decade later, would go on to write the mythical, legendary "Les Visiteurs", for this reviewer, the single greatest french film of all-time.

Because of a nearly sole scenery, you guess that Jean-Marie Poiré's movie is the adaptation of a play. If the first minutes of the movie seem weak, what comes next makes them quickly forget. As soon as the nearly sole scenery (the flat of "SOS Amitié") appears on the screen, there is a ripple of dialogs, the gags follow on from each other. The whole is supported by an either devastating either nasty humor. We're very far from the crude vulgar humor in "les bronzés" (1978). Let's add actors who are all excellent (Thierry Lhermitte, Gérard Jugnot and Christian Clavier in front). They have a tremendous time in the shoes of their respective characters and they perfectly portray them. The best movie from the "Splendid" crew and one of the highlights in French comedy.

This cult play has become a cult movie in the 80s. If you are not French ... beware! ... the dialogues are falsely simple and you will probably remain indifferent wich such a French masterpiece. Otherwise, it's total happiness with divine dialogues carried by almost-mythical characters.

Here is a brief overview of the incalculable number of legendary replicas: C'est c'laaaaa oui. Roulé sous les aisselles. Ça dépend, ça dépasse. Félix, Joyeux Noël Félix! Nous habitions des gîtes infâmes quai Branly. Vous êtes myopes des yeux, myopes du coeur et myopes du cul. Thérèse n'est pas moche, elle n'a pas un physique facile, c'est différent. C'est fin, c'est très fin, ça se mange sans faim.

A French jewel!