La Tour Montparnasse infernale (2001) - film review

One evening, Éric and Ramzy are cleaning the windows of the Montparnasse Tower, oblivious to the dramatic events taking place within.  A band of trigger-happy gangsters have infiltrated the building and are now threatening to kill a businessman and his associates unless he gives them the combination to a safe holding a fortune in banknotes.   The window-cleaning chums had hoped for a quiet evening but soon find themselves caught up in a terrifying action-packed adventure, with only their courage, physical prowess and ingenuity to save them.  Yep, they’re deader than corduroys…

If you’re going to re-make a popular Hollywood blockbuster, this is the way it should be done – as an outrageous, utterly bonkers parody, with the heroic lead played by a pair of likeable imbeciles who have absolutely no grip on reality.  An insane yet inspired spoof of the Bruce Willis action movie Die Hard (1988), La Tour Montparnasse infernale sees popular TV comedians Eric Judor and Ramzy Bedia giving French cinema’s best double act since Gérard Depardieu and Pierre Richard in the 1980s.

Whilst the cult comedians’ humour tends to err on the juvenile side, it is not without its charms, and as things progress it becomes apparent that the main thing holding the film together is their brilliant comic rapport.  Eric and Ramzy are not quite Abbot and Costello, but their comedy – a mix of prat falls, mutual Mickey-taking badinage and darkly surreal visual gags – works well, and prevents the film from descending into just another tedious thriller parody.  Opposing the comic duo is the the svelte Marina Foïs, who makes a deliciously wicked villain, a nice twist on the familiar gangster genre stereotype.

La Tour Montparnasse infernale is an unremitting barrage of jokes from start to finish, although the quality is far from consistent and in places things do get very, very silly.  There are, however, a few comic pearls along the way – the mozzarella trainers, the business with the severed hand, the banana gags, and that joke with the computer....   The film may be a tad infantile in parts, but it does deliver a reasonable quota of good laughs, and, overall, it is an enjoyable dollop of escapist fun.

© James Travers 2007

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