OSS 117 - the funniest movie we've seen in a long time

[DogKnob]

The full title of this 2006 film is OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies. First of all, it is in French with English subtitles. If you hate subtitles, you might (maybe!) hate this film. That said, this film is a straight-up parody of the Connery-era Bond films (more so than the OSS 117 novels and films of the 50s-60s) right down to the minute details: rear-projection in car chases, ridiculous fighting styles, costumes, day-for-night photography, music (excellent!), title sequence, good babe/bad babe, and the star himself, French comic Jean Dujardin - a brilliant physical comedian who is nearly a dead-ringer for a young Sean Connery. Dujardin plays OSS agent 117, Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath. His assignment in Egypt involves the death of a friend and fellow agent, a missing Russian tanker filled with munitions, an Islamic extremist group, and his cover (a job he begins to take too seriously) -- head of the Society of Chickens and Egyptian Poultry. The shoot-out at the poultry ranch is an absolute scream. This film is by no means a Naked Gun-style parody in that all of the action is plausible, not cartoony. The humor is derived largely from the acting abilities of the principals, all of whom absolutely nail their characters. As 117, Dujardin is chock full of callousness, narcissism, homoerotic tendencies ("What you did with your weenie, you did for France") and ignorance of such things as Islam ("I was woken by a guy screaming on a tower") and Arabic ("It's 1955. Come on. Wake up! Donkeys and jellabas and writing you can't read -- It's time to grow up.") as well as a penchant for hookah-hogging that gets him literally tossed out of a building. All this and then the fugitive Nazis show up ("Funny how Nazis are always the bad guys. This is 1955. Don't we deserve a second chance?"). Perhaps most admirable are the near-absence of the gadgetry that reportedly drove Connery out of the Bond role and the lack of sequences that mimic those in the Bond films; aside from the aforementioned attention to detail in style, at no point can one say "they're riffing that part of Goldfinger where..." Everything here is original, yet very familiar. Due to a disguise situation, there's even a musical number late in the film where 117 gets to jam out on the oud. The closest comparisons in the Bond universe here are Dr. No and From Russia With Love, but in style only; there are no super-arch-villains and no cats to speak of. OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies scores big on belly-laughs while paying loving tribute to the early Bond films. We can't wait until the 2009 sequel OSS 117: Lost in Rio becomes available here in the US. Can't. Wait.

[Bob]

I see it is available as a Netflix instant watch.

I've heard about this movie before and was meaning to check it.

Oh, and if I don't like it.   

[k1]

I see it is available as a Netflix instant watch.

ORLY?    Time to queue that up!

[carlobee]

oh. i gotta check that one.