Ripoux 3 (2003) - film review

It’s been ten years since crooked cops René and François went their separate ways.  Whilst René fritters away his time gambling on the horses, his former partner in crime François tries to prove his mettle as an honest cop.  The latter is on the point of busting a Chinese money laundry operation when René appears and makes off with the booty – which he promptly loses in the sewers of Paris.  Pursued by Chinese hitmen and the French police, René has no other option than to disappear.  With the help of a crooked surgeon, he fakes his own death and takes the identity of a small time crook.  Once again, he finds himself on the wrong side of the law – and it’s not long before he has François by his side once more.  Once a ripou, always a ripou…

More than a decade after Ripoux contre ripoux (1990), director Claude Zidi managed to bring together Philippe Noiret and Thierry Lhermitte for a third and final time as the likeable crooked cops René and François, a.k.a. Les Ripoux.  The film will certainly have some appeal for fans of the first two Ripoux films – the Noiret-Lhermitte rapport being its strongest card.  Unfortunately, it is far less original and engaging film than the first two films in the series – the storyline has too many obvious flaws, relying heavily on implausible plot contrivances, shorthand stereotyping and cheap gags that largely fall flat.  Although the film begins fairly well, the lack of pace and energy become more than evident in the dawdling second half.  The amiable Lorànt Deutsch brings some freshness that would otherwise have been lacking had the action been left entirely to Messieurs Noiret and Lhermitte, and there are some nice contributions from Bernadette Lafont and Jean-François Balmer – although not enough to totally relieve the boredom that stems from an uninspired script and some over-laboured direction.  It’s worth noting that the film’s best joke (the betting tip scam) has been shamelessly lifted from another film, Le Gentleman d’Epsom (1962)...

© James Travers 2007

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