Le boulet

I really didn't know what to expect from this one. Actually I expected a movie like "la chèvre", "les compères" or "l'emmerdeur" : two guys unfortunately sticked one to the other for some reason... Allowing great and funny actors show. But there ?... The actors are good (but Poelvoerde is not at his best here for me), the stunts and special effects are not far from the best action films. The story is not bad. The directing is fair. But something doesn't work at all. I'm not sure of what. Too much violence ? some too-stupid-to-be-true behaviors ? Maybe. So I didn't enjoyed it completely and I won't give it more than a 5 on 10.

I just got this movie from Amazon.fr and am I glad I did! What a hoot. It is a great buddy-buddy movie, with over-the-top comedy gags, as well as some of the best cgi effects in any film. The Farris Wheel sequence is something to behold. My wife and I encourage you to get this one. Very funny, wonderful action.

I think this film is perfect if you just want to relax and enjoy some action spiced up with some humor. The car chase is unforgettable. The film is quite similar to the Guy Ritchie film (Lock, stock) with its many crazy characters but not so sophisticated, still quite good.

The movie starts well, fast-paced. With Reggio beeing slightly idiot, and Moltès the hard guy you may get a little Taxi feeling. Then the whole thing turns to a bad comedy as the two became fake black guys, and old James Bond bad guy appears. And the end.... A comedy always ends with happy-end, but they loose all their money (sloooowly, while the cast&crew displayed), and it's over. Gérard Lanvin, Benoît Poelvoorde and José Garcia play well, the rest is forgettable. Matte painting and 3d effects are also on low budget, even a child could spot them.

Launched in the Spring 2002 in France, "le boulet" was hugely successful (more than 3 million of spectators in the French theaters). Why? This success remains both mysterious and unexplainable because Alain Berbérian's movie's got every conceivable fault, every fault imaginable so that you can name it: the perfect load of rubbish. It consists on an uninspired and hackneyed script with threadbare topics. Dialogs that aren't very worked and a poor directing that emphasizes too much on special effects.

But above all, "le boulet" is a bad movie because it borrows mostly elements or sequences from a lot of French movies. Thus, you find traces of "la cité de la peur" (1994) made by the same director, always Berbérian. But you also think about "la soif de l'or" (1993) and "la grande vadrouille" (1966) both made by Gérard Oury. Even the duo of characters with opposed disposition (here, we deal with the frail Poelvoorde and the heartless Lanvin) and who are however compelled to work together isn't original. Indeed, this comic device had been already used (and brilliantly) by Francis Veber. You only have to watch "la chèvre" (1981) or "les fugitifs" (1986) to realize it.

With this poor movie that looks hollow, we deal with a very serious situation: it would appear that French comedy is declining...