Lovely Rita, sainte patronne des cas désespérés
2003 Comedy / Thriller   
 
Credits
  • Director: Stéphane Clavier
  • Script: Stéphane Clavier, Benjamin Legrand (novel), Louis Paraz
  • Photo: Yves Cape
  • Music: François Castello, Michel Hardy
  • Cast: Christian Clavier (Edgar Lamarck), Julie Gayet (Rita), Eddy Mitchell (Thierry Ferrand), Arielle Dombasle (Mademoiselle Lecas), Pierre Mondy (Marcel), Arnaud Giovaninetti (Kevin), Jean-Claude Dreyfus (L'antiquaire), Marthe Villalonga (Renée), Manon Gaurin (Angela), Maria Verdi (Murielle), Alain Zef (Simon Baldini), Denis Braccini (Hervé Baldini), Vincent Haquin (Maurice), Yan Dron (Franck), Christian Gazio (José)
  • Country: France
  • Language: French
  • Runtime: 90 min
 
 
 
Summary
When he arrives on the Côte d'Azur, accountant Edgar Lamarck is expecting nothing more than to do some business, conning a shipyard owner, Thierry Ferrand, with an under-valuation of his business.  He doesn’t expect to be caught up in a hair-raising, death-defying thriller intrigue.  His big mistake was to go looking for some night time entertainment to round off the evening.  "Lovely Rita" turns out to be nothing like the sumptuous blonde Edgar happened to come across on the internet.  She is in fact a fiery redhead who pulls a gun on him when she meets him.  And then she insists that he, a respectable accountant, helps her to dispose of the body of a man she has just killed.  It was obviously going to be one of those nights…

Review
An uninspired script and some complacent direction effectively scuttle this inconsequential comedy thriller more or less from the word go.  A sackload of borrowed ideas are regurgitated without any real thought and the result is about as tedious and trashy as a film of this genre can get.  The only thing more excruciating than the trite dialogue and the ridiculous plot is having to watch actors of the calibre of Julie Gayet, Pierre Mondy and Christian Clavier struggling hopelessly to make anything of it.   For a comedy, there’s very little to laugh at – apart from another embarrassing performance from Arielle Dombasle.

© James Travers 2006


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