OSS 117 : Rio ne répond plus

In late 2011, "The Artist" got released. It went on to win Best Picture (only the second silent movie to do so), as well as Best Actor and Best Director. Prior to its release, I had never heard of Michel Hazanavicius or Jean Dujardin. Right after I saw "The Artist", I saw an earlier collaboration of theirs: "OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies".

"OSS 117: Rio ne répond plus" ("Lost in Rio" in English) is the sequel to that movie. It's a litany of silly fun as Dujardin's suave spy gets sent to the Brazilian metropolis to find a Nazi fugitive. The movie finds time to make fun of stereotypes, namely the chauvinistic Frenchman and the ugly American. There are a few incongruous aspects, but this sort of movie is all about blatantly silly fun, and it's very much a good time, as was "Nest of Spies". As for "The Artist", its win combined with the Oscars won by "Hugo" have hopefully put the "freedom fries" attitude to rest forever.

Apparently, there was some OSS 117 series back in the 60s. I have never seen it and know nothing about the films. I do know, however, that just recently there have been a couple cute French spy films starring Jean Dujardin. Neither film makes a lot of sense, but they are entertaining and fun. Previously, OSS 117 went on a mission to Egypt. Now he's being sent to Rio to track down an ex-Nazi and obtain a list of French collaborators. Oddly, this film is set in the 1960s--and the previous one was set in the 50s. No matter, it's the same silly old spy character.

As I said above, the film makes almost no sense at all. The Nazis have two Mexican luchadors (wrestlers in hoods) who run about Brazil in suits! This is an obvious nod to the silly Mexican luchador films where you see characters like el Santo going on dates, fighting crime or monsters or making love--all in the silly hood. There are also some black Nazis--again, this film never tries very hard to make sense! While it is all silly fun, this is still a rather adult movie--much more so than the one set in Cairo. There is some nudity, a lot of blood and a CIA agent named Bill who uses the most amazingly colorful language I've seen in a long time. Also, while it makes fun of OSS 117's racism, sexism and overall arrogant xenophobic manner, the easily offended might still blanch at the film. But considering he IS supposed to be an idiot, his comments about Jews, women and the like are all intended to point out his idiocy.

In many ways this film is like an Austin Powers and Matt Helm film put together. Like Helm, there is the Dean Martin music and OSS 117's manner is pure Helm. Plus, like Helm, Dujardin is a nice looking guy. It is a bit Powers-like....but much, much more subdued and subtle--something you'd never call a Powers film! Cute and entertaining in a very low-brow sort of way.

The two new OSS 117 movies has a kind of humor which is both intelligent and dumbed-down at the same time, which I find extremely amusing. It really reminds me of the classic Pink Panther movies with an almost as good leading man as Peter Sellers in Jean Dujardin. And unlike Steve Martin completely ruining Clouseau, Dujardin is quite brilliant.

The comments regarding the movies' being anti-semitic, are obviously a case of a complete lack of humor and therefor understanding.

Whether you will enjoy or hate this movie really comes down to what kind of humor you have. I can't wait for the sequel!

I depise comedies, especially French comedies - I am French - except old Louis De Funès, Bourvil and Fernandel films - and I hate those stupid movies where I need some one to tell me when to laugh.... But those 0SS 117 features starring Jean Dujardin, there are three of them so far- I LOVE IT. And I was at first very reluctant to imagine OSS 117 as comedies. You see, I saw the genuine OSS 117 when I was a kid, starring Frederic Stafford, which were not comedies at all. So I was afraid to watch those; but what a surprise after the first time I saw them. Here the peculiarity is not the story of course, it is so stupid, but that's precisely the purpose of this masterpiece. To, FOR ONCE, the film presents a hero who is very handsome, the most handsome man on earth, womanizer, great fighter, so elegant, but AND THAT IS ALSO THE EXQUISITE CONTRAST, a guy totally racist, sexist, childish, pretentious, antisemitic, without any education nor culture, idiot at a scale you can't even imagine. I could not stop laughing during the time I saw those movies. Jean Dujardin reminds Jean Paul Belmondo, for instance in LE MAGNIFIQUE, but Belmondo's character was less idiotic, or also Dean Martin in MATT HELM films. Anyway it is absolutely impossible to show a more dumb character on screen. Just enjoy this wonderful tribute to the sixties espionnage films period and more precisely the MATT HELM and FLINT film series starring Dean Martin for the first and Jim Coburn for the second.

OSS 117 is a french secret agent, a very very french one. His new mission is to exchange a microfilm for money with an ex Nazi in Brazil. for this mission, he will have to team up with a Jewish sexy secret agent and the hippie son of the ex-Nazi. Whatever...The story is not that interesting, this is a parody of 007, a fine one. here, the hero is stupid and old fashioned, but sure to be the opposite. every single line he says is full of anachronism and ignorance, he has no idea of what he's dealing with and he's kind of childish. But he's the best french agent. Hubert Bonisseur de labathe is our own french Austin Power, for a more mature audience. Here, the laugh comes from the gap between the world OSS thinks he lives in and the real world, and the fact that, even facing the real world, he never changes his mind. The first episode was great, funny and thrilling, a complete absurd spy movie. this one is funnier, because now, we now the main character is a complete idiot, but he always gets what he wants, even if quite don't understand how.