Tais-toi !

That's another movie of great Francis Veber, the master of French comedy. After masterpieces like "La chèvre", "Le diner des cons" and "Le placard" Veber creates a new story, where two prisoners escape from jail. Veber's formula is always the same: putting together two people who have nothing in common, like a cat and a dog. From that we have many situations of misunderstandings.

The film is fun, although not among the best Francis Veber works. The first part is great and lively, in the second one the movie loses some speed and the story is less exciting.

Some moments are nevertheless memorable, for example all the prison scenes and the beginning of the friendship between Gérard Depardieu and Jean Reno. These situations are really hilarious!

Depardieu and Reno are big actors and work well together. Dialogs, once again, are the main ingredient in Francis Veber style.

Not a masterpiece, as I said, but enjoyable.

The film posters are all over the city, in almost every underground station you can see them. Normally that makes me suspicious. Films with too much advertising usually are bad and in desperate need of viewers. So I went to the cinema with a funny feeling in my stomach. I love to see both leading actors very much and do so for years. I don't care what they do, I go and see it. But of course I prefer a good film to a bad one. And I thought a film with both my best-loved French actors couldn't fail.

And you know what? The funny feeling in my stomach... gone after the first five minutes!!! This is a typical Francis Veber film, but one of the better ones, definitely. I laughed so much, my jaw started hurting after a while. I can't say, that there were no stereotypes in there, that the story is brilliant or that the jokes were completely new. In this film what counts are the two leading performances next to strong supporting ones, the fact that there is no boring moment and the Francis Veber touch to the script. Afterwards, coming out of the cinema, I felt good for the rest of the day and I know I will buy the DVD when it comes out. Sometimes I think it's fair to define a good film just by the good feeling you have while watching it.

9 out of 10.

Well this movie is one of the greatest comedies I've ever seen. If the movie lasts 1h 20 min you'll laugh maybe 1h 20min. Gerard Depardieu and Jean Reno's (perhaps the two greatest French actors) performances are amazing. They play the part of a fool (Gerard Depardieu) and an intelligent murderer (Jean Reno). The story is also good, not too silly and not too serious. The movie isn't very long which is great too (you know comedies mustn't be too long).I strongly recommend this film for people of all ages (I'm 13 years old, i saw it with my mom and she thought the movie was great too). I had seen some French films before and they were good, I'm starting to like French films and this is not the exception.

Objectively - not bad comedy with two good actors. Classics. Subjectively - always were very annoying films about idiots. There have never been funny for me random "flat humor" situations.

Great to see that Francis Veber, the natural heir to Billy Wilder, is still alive and well and turning out crowd-pleasers like this. Truffaut will be turning in his grave - I hope - to know that fifty years on from his vitriol-fuelled attack, 'a certain tendency ...' on PROFESSIONAL CRAFTSMANSHIP, filmmakers, and FRENCH filmmakers at that, have not abandoned, as he urged, strong stories, sound directing, and star performances. Here we have a Depardieu a good 30 pounds lighter than of yore and looking younger with it, playing the village idiot to a fare-thee-well against Jean Reno's strong silent type. Compared to Depardieu, who never stops talking (tais-toi translates literally to 'shut up') Reno's words are as carefully measured as tea-bags in Tel Aviv. Only see this movie if you're into verbal wit laced with sight gags and thick-ear confrontations involving a three-way split between Depardieu/Reno, the flics and a team of semi-hard men. Not quite Veber's best but still a respectable 8/10.