Gomez & Tavarès

I saw this movie at the German Fantasy Film Festival last year. The story starts with a typical buddy-movie setup: Tavares is a cop in Marseille. He is smart, somewhat good looking . and he is corrupt. Nevertheless nobody in the police department seems to care about his little misconducts. One day Tavares gets a new partner. Gomez is coming directly from Paris. He is one hundred per cent law-abiding and hates corruption. From the very first moment Tavares and Gomez are at each other's throats. But they have to work together. Investigating the murder of an accountant who was working for a drug cartel they have to protect his daughter who might be the key to bring down the syndicate. Eventually the mafia wants to eliminate the girl and the two cops. Let the havoc begin...

On the one hand `Payoff' reminded me of the light-hearted French action comedies of the Seventies I used to watch on TV when I was a kid (Belmondo's `L'Animal' comes to mind). On the other hand the movie clearly imitates modern American cop movies like `Bad Boys' or the `Lethal Weapon' series - especially when it comes to the visual style. Actually Marseille (the setting of the film) is presented as if it was Florida or California. The story might have its weak points and it also exploits a number of clichés, but there are lots of great action scenes and funny dialogues to keep you entertained.

Maxime Tavares (comedian Titoff) is one of Marseille's best cops, but he's also dirty. When he's assigned a new partner, Parisian tough guy even more dirty supercop Carlos Gomez (rapper Stomy Bugsy), there's not exactly love in the air. Yet they'll have to learn to work with and appreciate each other when they stumble onto a huge case that has the potential of getting them a lot of money.

No doubt greenlighted following the success of that other Marseille-based action/comedy, the successful Luc Besson produced Taxi franchise, Gomez & Tavarès is yet another variation of the buddy cop genre, in the tradition of Lethal Weapon, Red Heat, Rush Hour, etc... The big originality here is how crooked the heroes are. Their interest in solving the case is not due to their sense of duty but to save their own skins (since they're're being investigated by internal affairs) and to reap as much cash as possible.

The movie gives a rather bad impression at first, with its "Shaft-like" soundtrack and seemingly very low budget, but it gets better as the film progresses. It still feels rather low budget (which it probably is) and there aren't any really cool/impressive action scenes. The tone of the movie is more serious-minded than comic, even if there is comedy layered throughout.

All in all, Gomez & Tavarès doesn't offer much originality in terms of plot and doesn't offer much in terms of thrills either. It isn't really bad either and offers casual entertainment. Some will appreciate the eye candy provided by model Noémie Lenoir (After The Sunset, Rush Hour 3) and the amusing dirty cops idea while others will shake their heads at the various plot holes and the weakness of the script in general. As for me, I'd recommend it mainly to fans of the genre, but warn them that it's definitely not one of the best entries. I wouldn't mind watching the 2007 sequel, Gomez Vs Tavarès, but I'm not in a hurry to either.

This movie is not bad. The Action is good, the whole movie has a great look. It might have some little problems at the end, when the filmmakers really try to make this movie look more "international" or "hollywoodstylish", but that is okay, because it ist a charming movie. This movie is real good entertainment. And that's what this movie is made for!

Unfortunally some viewers want to watch a Michael-Bay-Movie. But guys: Michael Bay has budgets of more than 100 Millionen Bucks per movie! And compare this movie to all those American action-movies made for the international video / DVD - market in the last years (sind 1995). Most of these movies were bad and even worse. So "Gomez et Travares" might not be a masterpiece, but it is better than most b-Actionmovies from Hollywood of the last years.

Please, for your mental safety, stay far away from this awful movie! It's not even funny. Everything is failed. Director Gilles Paquet-Brenner tried to do like Michael Bay so he moved his camera at every image but he just managed to give us an headache. On stage, Titoff is not funny. On TV sets, he's just dumb. But on screen, it's catastrophic. He got dead cow eyes, he's unable to say a line with conviction,well i don't have enough words in English to tell you how Titoff is bad! The music is awful, the editing is terrible, the story has been written by a four years old kid,well, Gomez & Tavares, it's just a pain in the ass,the movie you don't want to see. Compare to it, VERCINGETORIX is a master piece!

I never knew the French could make such cool movies. Laconic and violent, with obvious homages to the 1970s, "Gomez & Tavares" a.k.a. "Payoff" is full of action, blasts, and lots of fun. While the script may have some minor flaws around its edges (not grave though), this movie works just fine, with some fine acting, cool dialogue, excellent photography and brilliant editing (yes indeed!). The soundtrack (both the musical score and the sound effects track) deserves some a special mention for a job not just well done, but outstandingly done. This film looks and sounds much more expensive than it probably was. Even my girl-friend, The Brain, liked it, which I guess means that the movie is sort of smart. Never mind the signifier or the signified. This film is pure "parole". Enjoy.