Comperes

The comic chemistry of Pierre Richard (The Tall Blond Man With One Black Shoe) and Gerard Depardieu (Jean De Florette, The Return Of Martin Guerre), introduced in 1982's La Chevre, here energizes this antic adventure with infectious charisma and sincerity. An endearing French screwball classic, Les Comperes was a runaway hit in its native country and a critical and popular success in the US, where it spawned a Hollywood remake.

When her 16-year-old son runs away from their Paris home, Christine (Amy Duperey) side steps her stubborn husband and separately convinces two former lovers that they are each the boy's father. Duped into a sense of responsibility for a son they never knew, each man follows the boy's trail to Nice. For Lucas (Depardieu), a two-fisted crime reporter, and Pignon (Richard), a fragile neurotic, their search through the back alleys of the Riviera is a chance to validate the years of bachelorhood they've squandered. After they find Tristan (Stephane Bierry), the two men search for themselves in the boy while packing a decade's worth of dubious parenting into a few manic days battling Riviera bikers, casino racketeers and most often each other.

Depardieu and Richard's expert timing and interplay allows this tender farce to unfold with a breakneck pace that belies the honest sentiment at its heart. According to the Los Angeles Times, the stars "play off each other beautifully, not unlike a contemporary, more sophisticated Laurel and Hardy," as Depardieu's brawling newspaperman and Richard's timid dreamer eventually win over Tristan and each other. In Les Comperes, writer/director Francis Veber (La Chevre, La Cage Aux Folles [writer only]) ingeniously blends elements of buddy movies, thrillers, and teen comedy into what the New York Post aptly declared, "superior entertainment." 

Upplagd i sortimentet: 26 februari, 2013