Tais-toi!

Francis Veber has been known for his ability to construct extremely entertaining films. Most of his films are built in the same way, very classical. This mix includes 2 main characters, who basically shouldn't have anything to do with each other but who due to circumstances get together. Then you add a couple of truculent second roles and a series of inevitable clashes between those two. This structure was used among others in "La Chèvre (The Goat) 1981", starring Pierre Richard and Gerard Depardieu. An interesting point about Depardieu is that while he played the tough guy in The Goat, he got the opposite role, the stupid, nice guy in "Tais-toi (Ruby & Quentin)". Needless to say he is evenly amazing in both, even more as the stupid character where he brings such a pure, simple sense of humanity that you can't feel sympathy for him. Both films deserves their place in an anthology of french humour. Francis Veber likes those -a little bit simple- guys because they offer a lot of potential for comic situations. And while you laugh at these naive character, it's never aimed to make fool of them. Their humanity always eventually prevail and even the tough guy, the one who just wanted to get rid of them at the beginning of the film, finally likes them. In their simplicity, they saw or did things a tough guy would never do, but in a certain unlikely way, they helped. So Tais-toi is a skillfully crafted piece of pure enjoyment, I would even say a master work in the comedy category. No dead moments, every single line of the script is there for a single purpose: to entertain us without appealing to our worst instincts. On the contrary.

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.

I watched this movie accidentally (other theatres were closed during the Easter) but it turned out to be my best choice! I laughed throughout the movie. Gérard Depardieu is giving his best, and so is Jean Reno. The plot is simple, but enough to make you laugh. There are fast changing scenes but that's ok, in fact the director skips the non-funny parts this way :) Only flaw, some violence scenes that could be avoided (gunshots and wounds).

A must-see.

9/10

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.

I watched this funny film on DVD with our family during our summer holidays 2005 in Nice, South of France. I have never heard before and I have to admit that this was one of the funniest films I've ever seen and I never laughed so much as here. Gérard Dépardieu and Jean Reno were incredibly full of fun in their roles as thieves and delivered an extraordinary performance. At the beginning I didn't recognize Dépardieu because he had a completely changed look and I mean it in a positive way.

I highly recommend to see it. Rating: 8/10.

If you liked it don't miss the other fun movie starring Jean Reno in "L'Enquiète Corse".