L'emmerdeur

"A Pain in the Ass" ("L'emmerdeur") was originally a play from Francis Veber--one of France's best writer/directors. The story was made into a film in 1973, remade as "Buddy, Buddy" in the States a few years later and now is remade here in 2008. In between, Veber also was responsible for "The Dinner Game" (recently remade as "Dinner for Schmucks"). These are a lot of films with essentially the same idea. In every case, a bad person ends up having their lives destroyed by an idiot--a well meaning idiot, but an idiot nonetheless.

The film begins with the police taking a witness across the country testify. However, there's a price on his head and the police are taking a caravan with several cars, an armored truck and lots of well-armed men. What they don't know is that an assassin is waiting across from the court in a hotel--waiting to pick off the witness. The problem is that a total idiot living next door starts a series of events that roll out of control when he attempts suicide. In addition, a guy who's stolen the idiot's wife gets pulled into it--and he, too, has his life ruined by the idiot and a lot of weird coincidences. It's all very dark--but also quite funny--even if it has been filmed many times already. While not among Veber's best work, it is still quite good--and I have no idea why it currently only have an IMDb score of 4.9--as this would seem to indicate it's a bad film.

Let me start, by saying, that I didn't know this was a remake and I haven't seen the Original movie. The idea it plays with is funny enough to be remade I guess. And only the french seem to be able to walk this fine line, between being annoying and successful with this concept, which this movie proves, too.

Talking about annoying, one of the two main characters, is very annoying, but without him, you wouldn't have a movie. And although some things seem completely OTT, it still maintains a nice rhythm, which is owed to the script and of course the actors. If you are willing to let yourself go with the flow of the movie, you will very much enjoy it. Actually I'm surprised that there is no plan to make a Hollywood Remake yet. On second thought though, it is pretty difficult to adapt for a mainstream audience!

If you carefully watch the "full Cast and Crew" for "Buddy, Buddy", you can notice that the original play and the screenplay are from Francis VEBER, who also wrote the original screenplay of the 1973 movie by Edouard MOLINARO. Chronologically : 1973 - L'Emmerdeur, by Edouard MOLINARO / 1981 - Buddy, Buddy by Billy WILDER / 2008 - L'Emmerdeur, by Francis VEBER. So, before "noticing" that a movie reminds you of another movie, and maybe suggest that it is a "copy", please go through the "full cast and credits" and READ the names of the people who wrote the screenplay, or the original book or play... This could avoid some unneeded comments. Thank you.