1996 witty movieRating: 16/20
Plot: Some French guy travels to Versailles in order to get the king (Louis CXVII or something) to help him drain some swamps. He learns quickly enough that the only way to get an audience with the king is to be wittier than everybody else. He's assisted by a doctor whose lovely and bosomy daughter is trying to perfect her diving suit invention. Meanwhile, there's a whore who kind of looks like Lyle Lovett, and she keeps trying to play footsy with him while he's busy getting his wit on. I'm sure it would have all made perfect sense back in the 18th Century.
Just two minutes in, a guy whips it out (it, being the penis) and urinates on an old man wearing an eyepatch. Cory recommended this one; he really likes that sort of thing. Here are three things that stand out about this movie:
1) This is exactly why everybody hates French people. In a way, it's hard for me to believe that people were ever like this, but then I think about how people are today and believe that people were definitely like this. I like the characters' faces after they make a witty remark, most, by the way, that I didn't even understand. Their expressions made me laugh and want to punch some random French guy.
2) The writers of this totally took that "jawbone of an ass" gag (where a character thinks of a witty retort way too late as he's traveling home from one of these awesome parties) from a Seinfeld episode. You know, the jerk store one.
3) I'm going to try to find every opportunity I can to say "Your butt is wider than your mouth" to people. I don't even know what that means, but it definitely sounds like something.
I liked this movie though I'm not a big fan of stuffy period pieces regardless of how much beautiful cleavage they throw on the screen. The costumes and settings provided a colorful backdrop to the frequently clever dialogue. And although I thought a lot of this was a little cold or, yes, stuffy, I thought a scene near the end with some deaf mutes was pretty touching. If I knew anything about French history and what happened to some of these people after most of this movie takes place, I bet I would be able to appreciate some of the irony more. Nice recommendation, Cory, and definitely not something I would have popped in on my own.
Love that vicious opening that sets the tone for the court scenes that follow, where the main goal of the characters is to hurt each other with words. The foppish and cruel nobility makes it that much easier to pull for the honorable and intelligent lead. I'm glad you checked this out, since it is unlike any other film I have seen. An 18.
ReplyDeleteforeign replacement in honor of your friends' clever Facebook comment: "Ju Dou".
I did enjoy this one. There was a rhythm to the first half of the movie that went away and was replaced with a jumpiness in the second half though. One scene that I liked that I didn't mention was one of the few with Louis XVI when he's told a joke and has to ask whether or not it's a pun before he laughs at it. It demonstrated the silliness of the whole thing so well.
ReplyDeleteNever even heard of 'Ju Dou' but I threw it in the queue. I still have three others from your list to watch sometime. I apologize for not getting around to your recommendations sooner.