Mais qui a tué Pamela Rose? (2003) - film review

Bornsville is the typical small American town where nothing ever happens.  So when something does happen, it is bound to cause a stir.  Pamela Rose, a striptease performer, is found dead in her hotel room and two FBI agents – Riper and Bullit – are sent in to investigate.  Naturally, the local police are none too pleased at this intrusion, particularly as this pair of federal agents appear to be singularly lacking in the competence department.  Riper and Bullit could hardly be more different.  Riper does things by the book, although what book that may be still has yet to be determined.  Bullit by contrast lives by the seat of his pants, which is presumably why his dry cleaning bill is bankrupting America.  Yet the two men must work as a team, pooling their resources like they have never pooled before, if they are to solve the mystery of who killed Pamela Rose.  And there is certainly no shortage of suspects...

The film that launched the big screen careers of the celebrity duo Kad and Olivier has become a minor French cult classic and is an inspired, albeit slightly unhinged, parody of the American police procedural drama.  Prior to this, Kad Merad and Olivier Barroux had become known to millions in France through their radio and television work and, as this film shows, they make a highly effective comedy double act.  With its plethora of bizarre characters (played by some very well-known French personalities), chaotic plot and flirtations with extreme vulgarity, the film is unlikely to please everyone and is far from being a masterpiece.  But as a piece of escapist nonsense Mais qui a tué Pamela Rose? delivers the goods and manages to be an entertaining romp, at least for those who are not offended by semen and fart jokes.

© filmsdefrance.com 2009

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