Sitcom

1998 French comedy

Rating: 10/20

Plot: The father of a seemingly normal family decides to bring home a rat as a family pet. The mother objects. Immediately, the rat has a profound impact on the family's lives and relationships with each other. The son comes out of the closet. The daughter attempts suicide and later becomes a dominatrix. The maid, her husband, and the daughter's boyfriend become involved in the shenanigans. Desperate to keep the family from falling completely apart because of the pet purchase of her apathetic husband, the mother successfully seduces her son. The daughter fails in her attempts to seduce her father. The children and mother go on a retreat to figure things out, and the father dreams of shooting them all. It's hilarious!

I wish this would have worked, but it ultimately fails as satire, parody, and as black comedy. It overstays its welcome as a bizarre and shockingly subversive but cowardly poke at society. See, it's called Sitcom but the story and characters presented are the exact opposite of the pristine existence portrayed in old school American sitcoms. It's irony. There are moments and then there are awkward moments and then there are moments that I guess are intentionally awkward. I'm just not sure I felt what I was supposed to. I'm fairly sure this was supposed to be artistically unpleasant, but it just ended up unpleasant. Director Ozon takes chances and dares to be different, but there's very little style and humor that is more puzzling and unknowingly juvenile than funny. Canned laughter would have improved the movie. Maid nudity would have, too. Left me empty.

Here I am violating my own ear: