Film Review
After starting out as a successful radio presenter and comedian (for a time
forming an effective double act with Kad Merad), Olivier Baroux made a successful
transiton to comic actor, showing box office appeal in such films as Éric
Lartigau's
Mais qui a tué
Pamela Rose? (2003) and Patrick Braoudé's
Iznogoud (2005). It was in 2007
that he made a promising directorial debut with
Ce soir je dors chez toi
(2007), and four years later he had his first notable success with
Les
Tuche (2011), a lowbrow kind of social comedy which seems to owe a great
deal to the American animated sitcom,
The Simpsons.
Les Tuche has little in the way of originality. It's humdrum
tale of an ordinary French family suddenly made rich by an unexpected windfall
makes it a familiar culture clash comedy, and whilst it is enthusiastically
performed by a likeable cast, it falls way short of its potential as a mainstream
entertainment. As ever, Jean-Paul Rouve and Isabelle Nanty can be relied
upon to salvage any third rate comedy, and they manage to keep Baroux's spluttering
comedy going, in spite of a script that lacks inspiration and good taste
in abundance. Few of the gags - most of the politically incorrect variety
- hit their mark and Baroux's idea of humour (glib and facile) soon
becomes wearisome.
Despite being malled by the critics on its first release, the film was a
moderate commercial success, attracting an audience of 1.5 million in France.
It attracted six times that audience when it was subsequently screened on
television, thereby guaranteeing a long string of sequels. So far,
Les Tuche 2: Le Rêve américain (2016) and
Les Tuche
3 (2018) have both enjoyed considerable success at the French box office,
and a third sequel,
Les Tuche 4, is in preparation, scheduled for
release in 2020.
© James Travers 2011
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Olivier Baroux film:
Mais qui a re-tué Pamela Rose? (2012)
Film Synopsis
The Tuches are a perfect example of a
famille débrouillarde
- a family that always manages to get by in spite of what life throws at it.
If there was a university course on 'System D', they would all graduate with
honours. The Tuches may be poor but they are happy with what they have,
and are grateful that they have not had to work for it. Work is not
part of the Tuche way - not when there are other, more dignified ways of
obtaining money. Living on state handouts and whatever else they can
lay their hands on, Jeff, Cathey and their three children lead a modest but
contented life in their hometown of Bouzolles in northern France. The
Tuches' harmonious existence is suddenly thrown into disarray on the fatal
day they win a hundred million euros on the euro-lottery.
Now that this typical French family has more money than it knows what to
do with, life suddenly becomes far more complicated. Of course, being
rich, they have to live the life of rich folk. So, without giving the
matter much thought, they up sticks and move en masse to Monaco, to enjoy
the millionaire lifestyle in the place that Cathy has long dreamed of living.
Sudden wealth takes some getting used to, and the Tuches have some difficulty
adapting to their new life. There's no more scrimping and scraping now
- just unbridled excess! You would have thought that having so much
money the Tuches would have no difficulty getting themselves in with the
jet-set. But, no. They may have oodles of cash, but they lack
a certain - je ne sais quoi. It's no easy thing being both filthy rich
and totally ignorant, as the family soon discover to their cost...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.