Les Boys IV

Montreal's Gazette critic John Griffin gave Les Boys IV 3 1/12 stars.

Les BOYS is the most popular and beloved movie franchise to come out of Quebec, where love of hockey is not a pastime, it's a religion.

The adventures of Stan (Remi Girard) and his garage league team take on a new twist when LES BOYS have to get their team spirit back during a summer boot camp in the middle of Quebec's mosquitoes and black fly infested country. They do this to win a chance to play against the legends of Hockey: Guy Lafleur, Steve Shutt, Mike Bossy, Stephane Richer and many more.

When released in Quebec in December 05, the movie out-performed King Kong and Harry Potter. LES BOYS IV: another small miracle made in Quebec.

Contrary to the other "Boys" films, in this one there is not as much hockey as in the other three films. It stresses more on the individuality of the characters, even if there is some hockey. I especially liked the part where they go away to think only about the games coming up. During that time the dialog is succulent and the jokes are plenty. I am not a fan of slapstick comedy even if there is some in this film, however my wife and I found ourselves crying of laughter. As in all the other "Boys" movies, the actors leave nothing to be desired, Pierre Lebeau is excellent as usual and this guy can play almost any character either tragedy or comedy. All in all a much better film that "Boys II and Boys III even though I enjoyed the latter.

I lost 2 hours of my life watching this film and want to get them back.

Every time another "Les Boys" film is released the producers somehow find someone in the media to say it's the best one yet; and they manage to plug their film based on that. The first 2 films were hilarious, the characters were really something, the French expressions were great, and often managed to make their way into the language and culture of Montrealers. The third film had its moments but sometimes looked like very poor adaptations of some Benny Hill vignettes.

But this 4th film does not even sit in the same category as the first 3 films. It is terrible!! The movie series has lost everything it once had. The loss of Patrick Huard is poorly covered up as they pretend his character has a full face cast in what are a couple of very awkward scenes. Boisvert on the other hand just disappeared from the mix without any explanation. Marc Messier is only present in a couple cameos, as Léopold becomes your new leading man.

Then there is the very poor writing which once again they try to cover up with very cheap physical comedy and cameos by NHL legends who barely even utter a single sentence between them all. This film does not follow in the footsteps of the other films, it's not about hockey, it's not funny, and it just plain sucks.