Mais qui a tué Pamela Rose? (2003)
Directed by Eric Lartigau

Film Review

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.

Film Synopsis

The small American town of Bornsville finds itself at the centre of an FBI investigation when a striptease artiste, Pamela Rose, is found dead in her hotel room.  Bornsville has known nothing like this before, which is why the crime is of such interest to the authorities.  The local police aren't exactly pleased when two FBI agents, Riper and Bullit, show up and start muscling in on their territory.  And they don't exactly inspire confidence.  In fact they look more like a bad comedy double act.  Riper is a man who does things by the book, although exactly which book that is remains to be decided.  Bullit, on the other hand, prefers a more improvisationalist approach, taking what comes his way and dealing with it in whatever way he sees fit, which is invariably the wrong way.

Individually, Riper and Bullit are pretty hopeless and stand about as much chance of solving a crime as they have of winning the national lottery without having first bought a lottery ticket.  But, working as a team, things might be different.  They might - and that's 'might' in the most extremely optimistic use of the word - find the murderer without bringing the whole town to a complete standstill.  Possibly.  The dynamic duo's first tangible lead is Ginger, the dead woman's best friend.  As they get to know this strangely alluring woman it soon becomes apparent that she knows far more than she is prepared to say.  And if Riper and Bullit can't loosen her tongue, there are plenty more suspects to keep them busy.  How they ever got into the FBI is anyone's guess...