Mais qui a tué Pamela Rose?

(If you want to see this movie, you might not want to read my comment, which contains spoilers).

"Mais qui a tué Pamela Rose" is the natural product of two men who have been watching too many American "whodunit". Hey, come on, we all have seen so many of those... and we like it, don't we? What's better than a "film noir"? That's probably what Kad and Olivier thought too; so they made a parody of these movies for us - and a rather good one. The peculiar thing about this movie is that the authors went to the very end of their idea. Along with all the murder and inquiry plot, they took from American "whodunit"... America. Hey, what if we all were American? So, they took natural sets and landscape of France and pretended them to be some Middle West place called Borsnville. Of course, they transformed them a little, and some sets are actually convincing (I think of the restaurants scenes, and the Motel). The characters are American too. Americans from the depth of America, characters taken straight out of some dark road movie. (the strip-teaser, the sheriff, the radio guy...).

Kad and Olivier have made what no one else has done before: on purpose, they have recreated a unique America, one made with heart by admirers who pretend they only know it from the outside, from movies. For instance, the name of the secondary characters are uncongruous common names, English words that just stick out from films when we see them over here: Mr Donuts, Dan Nuggets... and Riper has a recommendation from... Stevie Wonder! Another example of that is the "FBI University"... I really don't think such a thing exists!

In this extraordinary set evolve characters who want so badly to be American, who truly seem to believe they are. Jean-Pierre Rouve is great -and subtle- as this sheriff who feels that he might be homosexual... Darmont is impressive as a leather figure with santiag boots (I never thought I'd see him clad like that!). And, of course, Kad and Olivier -almost convincing in FBI agents!- are such as they always are: funny.

Well, time is to talk about the most important thing: the movie itself, its rhythm, its humour. If you like Kad and Olivier's sense of humour, you won't be disappointed. From the very first minute (a dedication to Christopher Colombus, the lad who "invented" America) to the last it is there, made of very seriously pronounced nonsense and silly drifts in classical situations -I like it because it is more of a language humour than a visual one. The first thirty minutes of the movie are hilarious, like this scene where Kad deals with Colombian drug dealers, or Olivier teaching in the FBI University. The second part of the movie is too slow with many punch lines just not up to our expectations. But overall, one has a very good time with this rather subtle parody: a good plot, good actors, and the precious feeling it's not been seen before.

I watched this film totally by accident on a TV channel and I was mesmerized by how funny it was. The whole thing was so surreal (everybody in the US speaking French for example). I just have to share this one bit with you. The two FBI agents are in the car and one says something like "We can go faster" and he takes out of his pocket an audio tape on which he has recorded the sound of the engine of a Ferrari cabrio he was previously on. He puts the tape in the tape recorder and just because of the Ferrari sound the car he is currently driving went faster.

I was laughing my head off and it was one of the funniest and most unexpected things that I ve seen in a movie.And guess what this movie is full of such moments.

As luck would have it I had rented "Dodgeball" the day before...and there really is no comparison to the pacing and the quality of the jokes. This little French movie is simply amazing in my book (and I didn't even watch the first 30 mins or so that the reviewer said were even funnier,lol) Probably it is hard to find (I watched it under the English title "Bullit and Ripper") but the Greek translation was actually of the original French title displayed above.

Great, funny, 1000000 degree, a great movies to forget trouble of the day! Kad & O are equal to themselve, a very good comedie, the support roles ares great, but who killed Pamela Rose? go to see it , it's so funny! a french comic's bomb in this sade smelly neo fascist world , hope everyone will go and enjoy it.

"Who Killed Pamela Rose", directed by Eric Lartigau, and starring the 'it' comedic French duo of 2003, Kad Merad and Olivier Baroux (known as "Kad & O") needs so desperately to make fun of all the stereotypes accumulated by dozens of American classics that it gets quickly boring. Watching the film is like driving across Joke City, you know you're supposed to laugh, and some jokes do work, but that's just it, there's nothing else in the film that tries to elevate it above its TV skit format, it's an unambitious project that tried to capitalize on two comedians' popularity instead of their talent, which they have.

The film is set in an American little town, with French actors playing Americans, that's for the gimmick. It works to the extent that we've seen enough cop thrillers and American movies to spot all the little archetypes: the undercover drug deal, the partner who gets killed or severely injured, the corrupt sheriff of a quiet little town (who wants to keep it that way), the redneck with a horseshoe mustache, the Vietnam vet, the sleazy diners and a spectacular, hear- pounding off-screen car chase. Yep, this is clearly a low-budget self-conscious film, starting with a funny premise, but that ended up being trapped by its concept. After all, why would we more laugh at a French film mocking these stereotypes than an American? What is exactly the added value?

This question illustrates the main problem with the film, it took its inspiration from a series of sketches from comedians Kad Merad and Olivier Baroux, but that's the point, they were sketches. These are terrific premises for short films and these two guys, made the best moments of French TV in the early 2000's, and while not a bad film, "Who Shot Pamela Rose" tries so hard to sustain the sketch format during eighty minutes that you feel time goes slowly. There are some bits of genius here and there, an ending credits that pops out of nowhere, a gag involving an after- sales services for failing jokes but these are gags that could have worked for any film and feel like time-fillers. There's something weird when the gags count more than the story.

A movie can get away with this if it's a laugh-riot, if it manages to be on the same vein than "The Naked Gun", but "Who Shot Pamela Rose" is trapped by its obsession to make fun of American films, that it takes for granted we'll be laughing at any reference to American movies, regardless of the comical effect. Maybe this might have worked, but for some reason, the film has an overall feeling of artificiality that leaves a very bitter taste. This is a movie that takes you in a pale vision of American towns, it's all in gray and sad colors, it doesn't really emphasize the Americanization. It looks like France disguised as America. Again, the low budget is betrayed.

The actors do fine but the plot is so thin that they have to inject some pointless subplots, Jean- Paul Rouve, the sheriff ,seems to be infatuated with the cop played by Kad, another subplot involves a diminutive officer who never knew his father, there are just too many time fillers. Olivier is a convincing straight man and Kad, while a great comical actor, doesn't exactly know how to play his cop. He's introduced in an undercover drug deal and what strikes in his character is that he's not professional at all. Maybe that's the joke, but what's the point of making him taste the cocaine while he was already behaving like a lunatic? The film is so busy putting jokes everywhere that it doesn't really care for the story or the characters, it's just an excuse for a series of clichés, one after another.

In the end, I was wondering, why not making this a film set in fictional America, it could be a comedy but without forcing the parody tone, just like "The Artist", or why not making it a parody of French cop movies. By playing in both sides, the comical effect was lost and there was nothing more in "Who Shot Pamela Rose" than a succession of disjointed gags and some over- the-top effects to tell you that it's all a joke. So, if you want to watch a good spoof cop movie, watch "The Naked Gun", to watch a great French cop parody, you have the superb "City of Fear" from comedians "Les Nuls", a film with hilarious gags but still a serious investigation and an engaging story. "Who Shot Pamela Rose" is obviously made for fun with actors having fun playing in it, but they are all in on the jokes and the film is too self-conscious to be taken seriously, even as a parody.

The two actors would later start in more successful films, Kad would be the co-lead in the highest-grossing French movie in 2008, and Baroux went to direct the successful "Tuche" series, and what these films had in common, they were funny and they told stories. At least, they learned the lesson.

I only went to see this film because it was partly filmed at my halls of residence in Paris... I was expecting the worst, but it was actually very funny. Full of good visual jokes and bad translations - the crime scene tape is marked 'Yellow scotch of the police', and the police phone 'Service apres Vannes' (a suburb where it was filmed). Semi-improvised dialogue and some very funny supporting characters mean that this (unlike a lot of French films) is genuinely funny.