Les bronzés 3: amis pour la vie

I'm surprised by the low ratings Les Bronzés 3: Amis Pour La Vie (French Fried Vacation: Friends Forever for the English title, yes I still think it's a stupid translation) gets. I agree it's the lesser good of the three in this trilogy but it's still worth watching, certainly if you were a fan of Les Bronzés and Les Bronzés Font du Ski, the classics from 45 years ago. The second movie was definitely the best but this lesser popular one is made so much later, it was great to see the crew of Le Splendid again. Friends forever is a good title for it as this team of top class actors made so many good movies together. I know it will never get the same status as the first two movies got, they are absolute classics of the French comedy, but it deserves a higher rating.

The idea of reuniting these infamous fellows was not necessarily a good one. Sure, they made us laugh a good deal 25 years ago with their precise and exquisite sense of humor. Sure, their portrayal of the bigger segment of French society was dead-on. Of course, their bad manners and mean-spirited friendships contributed to propel them to stardom. But the very reasons why we enjoyed watching their mediocrity was that they weren't stars. They were a quasi-unknown bunch on the margin of French culture. They were successful because they distanced themselves from both bourgeois mentality and the counter-culture allowing for their insolent brains to come up with such familiar characters. That was last century. And between the late seventies and 2006, they've grown to be the very establishment of mainstream French comedy, something that hardly makes for good, right-on insolence.

So the movie feels at times nostalgic but always superficial. As if the actors had become the characters and in the process had lost the necessary distance to make us laugh.

With my blonde we watched, les Bronzes 1 and 2, we had a lot of fun, and for myself a bit of nostalgia, so we went to see les bronzes 3 last night.

At the beginning, we were happy to see such iconic characters, but after a third of the movie, we saw it was pointless.

The plot line is very mediocre, the character have not evolved, they truly lost the magic touch of their youth.

I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone even on DVD.

Craps. And, i'm French, i'm fan of the early splendid, it's not a question of cultural divide between french and other country, this movie is pure crap, written by talented people, but without inspiration.

My close relatives and friends know that Patrice Leconte has a prominent place in my straitjacket of favorite French filmmakers. I must profess that treasures like "Tandem" (1987), "le Mari De la Coiffeuse" (1990) or "l'Homme Du Train" (2002) were pure cinematographic delights in my eyes. But in counterpart, I don't go much for the "Bronzés" saga which is supposed to be a satirical mirror of the average Frenchman. I have always deemed it as vulgar, crass and it's really a shame that in France, for many French viewers, the name of Patrice Leconte remains associated with this cult series (for those who love it). There's so much to discover beyond it like the three gems aforementioned.

The first two chapters were shot in 1978 and in 1979. After that, a big proportion of viewers expected another installment. And so, Patrice Leconte and his gang of well-known French actors agreed to make a third episode. Of course, the whole crew was elated at the idea to work all together again like the good old days and I can understand(while not sharing it) the enthusiasm of many fans. "Les Bronzés 3: Amis pour la vie" was perhaps the most anticipated film of 2006.

I haven't got fond memories of the first two episodes and I won't warm to the series with this third one. My estimation about it is a juxtaposition of sketches hardly dovetailed without a true unifying thread. In the middle of the film, comes a two-bit subplot whose main function is filler. Some old clichés have been seen so many time before like Bernard Morin's son who announces to his father that he's gay and of course, his father isn't prepared to accept this. Most comical effects often fall flat and are rarely efficient.

Even Patrice Leconte's input in the project is absent and he doesn't seem to care about it. The actors give us their little acts but that's all. All in all, many fans of the first two films will be delighted to see these reunions and won't be hampered by the fact that the film isn't a model of cinematographic writing and this film by Patrice Leconte and his men is for them. But if some of them are curious to see what there is beyond this new trilogy (unless a fourth episode is on the way) in Leconte's filmography, I strongly advise them to watch the works I quoted in my first paragraph.

I'm a huge fan of Le Splendid, I have seen Les Bronzés, Les Bronzés font du ski and Le Père Noël a million times and I know most of the dialogues by heart. Every time I look at those movies I still laugh.

On the other hand, this one is really THE PITS!!. The jokes are not even funny and ultra-conventional, or just gross. Christian Clavier is the worst, and worse than ever here. Now I really hate him. There are no original punch lines at all, and when they try to reference the prequels, this is a disaster. It looks like a mix between "La soif de l'or" and "Les Charlots font l'Espagne". If you are a great fan of "Le Splendid", watching this movie will make you sorry for them. If you don't like "The Splendid", that's definitely the movie that will make you hate them even more. If you can borrow the DVD, don't do it. Avoid at all costs.