Rien à déclarer

Given the commercial and critical success of director Dany Boon's earlier film Welcome to the Sticks, it is peculiar that his next project, Nothing to Declare, endured a straight-to-DVD release in France. This is despite its superb sense of humour, engaging interplay between characters and generally fun, light-hearted feel.

The story, set in 1993, centres on the racist, trigger-happy Belgian Ruben (Benoit Poelvoorde), who is paired up against his will with Frenchman Mathias (Boon) in their effort to police the Franco-Belgian border. Compounding the strenuous partnership is the fact that Mathias is secretly dating overprotective Ruben's sister (Julie Bernard). Also intertwined in the story is the oafish Jacques and trying wife Irene, who turn to smuggling contraband between the borders to make ends meet, as well as the world's most incompetent drug ring and their short-tempered boss.

Right off the bat, it's clear that Boon has a talent for ensemble directing. Although he and Poelvoorde share the lead, each fringe character enjoys ample screen time to tell their story and draw audience engagement, while all potential loose ends are appropriately tied up without leaving any individual's fate hanging in the balance.

Humour is consistent throughout Nothing to Declare. Following a slow start, the film employs varying instances of physical, visual and verbal comedy, the latter of which is accentuated by the consistently tense, tight interplay between certain pairs of characters. The arguable highlight occurs as the criminals attempt to disguise their van as an ambulance for the purpose of drug smuggling, but honourable mentions must also go to Ruben's crude, xenophobic dad and the 'pimping-out' of Mathias's patrol car.

Boon casually addresses the fine line between patriotism and racism with this film but, like all good comedies, it permits pure entertainment to take priority, without falling into the trap of becoming too preachy, political or divisive.

*There's nothing I love more than a bit of feedback, good or bad. So drop me a line on jnatsis@iprimus.com.au and let me know what you thought of my review. If you're looking for a writer for your movie website or other publication, I'd also love to hear from you.*

Humor is a funny thing ... especially when it's a movie coming from France and has Danny Boon starring in it. Of course you might have an aversion to the guy (which would be unfortunate), otherwise you might be delighted watching him, even in the craziest situation, because he can even pull those off.

The plot is not that complicated, patrolling the "border", making sure nothing illegal happens, but the situations that ensure due to characters decision and the consequences are really funny. Of course they could also be tragic at times, but this is not a drama and it is made clear very early on ... which should also be an indicator if this is a movie you'll enjoy to watch or not

I loved this movie! I've just seen it tonight as part of the New Zealand International Film Festival and thoroughly enjoyed it. The entire cinema was in hysterics. I haven't laughed so much in a movie for a long time. I'm not a film snob. I'm not looking for fine film-making or clever, or thought provoking movies, necessarily. There are some widely acclaimed movies out there that I didn't enjoy, while often movies that are slammed by the critics, I really enjoy. I just love to be entertained, and this movie did exactly that. Were some of the jokes childish? Yes, but it was so funny that it didn't matter. The actors were really believable and did an awesome job. Rien a Declarer - awesome! I absolutely do want to own this movie on DVD.

I'm getting older and I'm looking at French comedies more and more often.

Not so long ago I watched something similar with the same director and actor in one of the main roles.

Well, as usual, there is almost nothing to say. The film is short and funny. What else does comedy need?

Someone might say that a good comedy also needs an interesting plot and half of the film should be devoted to drama. To which I will answer: She doesn't need it.

If a comedy is funny, then it's a good comedy. That's all!

Although the plot here is really interesting. By itself, it's simple, but that's how it plays out and how all the jokes fit into it. This is very well done.

If you have seen "Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis", you will certainly recognize that same entertaining formula, based on the interaction of weird, funny characters and amusing situations, which certainly do not appear as new, but always get to please the viewer. The two main characters, the schizoid Belgian custom-officer, who hates all French people and does not welcome the unification of Europe and the more quiet and easygoing French one (interpreted by the good Dany Boon), who believes in integration and tolerance, give rise to amusing sketches, but also the other minor, clumsy, characters help create a comic atmosphere. Original, indeed, is the idea to set the funny story in the context of Europe's unification, which one would think more suitable for more serious and thought-provoking stories, although some reflection upon the consequences of the elimination of borders, is not neglected. I saw this movie in the Italian dubbed version, which was good indeed, although I think these movies, often played on the mispronunciation of words and the mocking of accents, should be seen in the original version, in order to get the real linguistic funny quality, but of course, you should master the French language very well.