Le boulet

I just got this movie from Amazon.fr and am I glad I did! What a hoot. It is a great buddy-buddy movie, with over-the-top comedy gags, as well as some of the best cgi effects in any film. The Farris Wheel sequence is something to behold. My wife and I encourage you to get this one. Very funny, wonderful action.

The movie starts well, fast-paced. With Reggio beeing slightly idiot, and Moltès the hard guy you may get a little Taxi feeling. Then the whole thing turns to a bad comedy as the two became fake black guys, and old James Bond bad guy appears. And the end.... A comedy always ends with happy-end, but they loose all their money (sloooowly, while the cast&crew displayed), and it's over. Gérard Lanvin, Benoît Poelvoorde and José Garcia play well, the rest is forgettable. Matte painting and 3d effects are also on low budget, even a child could spot them.

I saw this film in Martinique when it opened, and I don't think it's derivative at all. I thought, if anything, it shows that Blockbuster action and comedy are not the property or sole domain of American filmmakers. The film is a a slapstick comedy and is more often than not successful in that regard. It kind of reminded me of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World in the mad pursuit for a lotto ticket with lots of improbable characters, bizarre situations, and hilarious scenes. In short, watch this film and enjoy -- nice,escapist fun, period. And why would you want to watch this film with bad English dubbing?? Just watch it in French with English subtitles, duh!

Launched in the Spring 2002 in France, "le boulet" was hugely successful (more than 3 million of spectators in the French theaters). Why? This success remains both mysterious and unexplainable because Alain Berbérian's movie's got every conceivable fault, every fault imaginable so that you can name it: the perfect load of rubbish. It consists on an uninspired and hackneyed script with threadbare topics. Dialogs that aren't very worked and a poor directing that emphasizes too much on special effects.

But above all, "le boulet" is a bad movie because it borrows mostly elements or sequences from a lot of French movies. Thus, you find traces of "la cité de la peur" (1994) made by the same director, always Berbérian. But you also think about "la soif de l'or" (1993) and "la grande vadrouille" (1966) both made by Gérard Oury. Even the duo of characters with opposed disposition (here, we deal with the frail Poelvoorde and the heartless Lanvin) and who are however compelled to work together isn't original. Indeed, this comic device had been already used (and brilliantly) by Francis Veber. You only have to watch "la chèvre" (1981) or "les fugitifs" (1986) to realize it.

With this poor movie that looks hollow, we deal with a very serious situation: it would appear that French comedy is declining...

I think this film is perfect if you just want to relax and enjoy some action spiced up with some humor. The car chase is unforgettable. The film is quite similar to the Guy Ritchie film (Lock, stock) with its many crazy characters but not so sophisticated, still quite good.