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| Directed by Francis Veber; Starring Jacques Villeret, Thierry Lhermitte, Francis Huster, Alexandra Vandernoot, Daniel Prévost, and Cathernine Frot |
There are many types of comedies that I like. I’m most often commending satires (Bowfinger) and sophisticated comedies (An Ideal Husband), but there is also a side of me that like farces. I’m not referring to self-mocking comedies like Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, but of films like those made by Blake Edwards in his heyday. Before Edwards lost the touch (circa 1970), he was making some of the funniest films of the sixties. I have a special place in my heart for The Pink Panther, A Shot in the Dark, and, to a lesser extent, The Party. Of course one might note that those three have one thing in common besides Edwards and Henry Mancini (who did most of the scores for Edwards’ film): Peter Sellers. It has been years since I saw a completely Sellers-esque farce. His style of baffoon has never been equalized, not even by Roberto Benigni (who did a terrible job attempting to be Sellers in Son of the Pink Panther). Sellers had a knack for comedy that is probably not going to be found again for years to come. Still there is no reason that Hollywood should completely abandon the genre. The only people that seem to still make that type of film are the French. With their understanding of Jerry Lewis’ comedy, they not only know how good farces can be, they make good ones too.
Such is the case with The Dinner Game (Le Dîner de Cons), a film from La Cage aux Folles screenwriter Francis Veber. Veber has had good luck and bad luck in the film industry. Most of his French films have been rather good, but whenever they are remade for American audiences, they turn out rather bad (Fathers’ Day, The Man with One Red Shoe). With that in mind, I cannot think of any way that The Dinner Game could work if remade (unless Edwards or Billy Wilder did the adaptation). Of course it is too late to try to keep a remake from happening, Veber has already agreed to directing an English language remake called Dinner for Schmucks. Hopefully if he is directing, he can keep the film from going down the drain (of course that did not save the remake of The Vanishing).
The Dinner Game is about what happens to a man when he finds the person he thinks is perfect for his weekly dinner party. At this party, people bring acquaintances that are idiots, whom they make fun of throughout the evening subtly enough to keep the idiot from figuring out that he is being made fun of. Pierre Brochant (Lhermitte) thinks that he has the perfect idiot for the party, a tax man that spends his spare time making architectural achievements out of matchsticks. François Pignon (Villeret) is that type of idiot that literally has no idea of what he is doing; he’s trying to be a good person, it’s just that his inability to clearly think keeps his actions from being at all helpful. When Brochant hurts his back and is unable to leave the house to go to the party, he is forced to spend the evening with Pignon. Things would not be so bad if it was not for the fact that Brochant is attempting to find his wife, who has threatened to leave his if he goes on with the cruel plans for the night. As one might expect, the mean Brochant gets his comeuppance from the mistakes made by Pignon.
The film is completely unpredictable, with each impending mishap a surprise. My only problem with the film is that there are many lulls in the comedy. Sure the film is mostly hilarious, but there are parts where many of the jokes fall flat. The biggest laughs were when the film would leave a subject that had become rather old and go onto a fresh subject.
The direction, script, and cinematography (Luciano Tovoli) are all sufficient. The main thing that makes the thing flow are the two leads. Villeret is a good choice for the shoes Sellers has left behind, though he is still no Inspector Clouseau.
