San Antonio (2004)

San Antonio is a French comedy thriller film first released in 2004, directed by Frédéric Auburtin and Laurent Touil-Tartour.  The film stars Gérard Lanvin, Gérard Depardieu, Michel Galabru, Barbara Schulz and Eriq Ebouaney.  Our overall rating for this film is: very poor.


When the President of France mysteriously disappears, disgraced special agent San Antonio is called into investigate.  Assisted by his sidekick, the woman-mad Bérurier, San Antonio soon realises he is up against a band of dangerous and intelligent criminals.  But who is their mastermind?

What starts out as a promising albeit pretty wacky James Bond spoof very quickly degenerates into a tedious mélange of comedy fights, action stunts and silly sex jokes, with no real sign of a coherent plot and with characters that would be implausible in a child’s strip cartoon.  The talent of Gérard Lanvin and Gérard Depardieu are totally wasted in this clumsy adaptation of Frédéric Dard’s comedy-thriller novels, with both actors reduced to spouting imbecilic dialogue and trying, in vain, to make the endless stream of oral sex jokes amusing.   Hard to believe that the film was directed by Frédéric Auburtin, who previously worked with Gérard Depardieu on the thoughtful 1999 film drama, Un pont entre deux rives.

© James Travers 2006

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