WillSushyMedia
This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.
Humaira Grant
It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.
Nayan Gough
A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.
R. Ignacio Litardo
A stellar cast. A French comedy that actually makes you laugh. Politically incorrect. Could it be better?Yes, definitely yes. I felt since the beginning that this film was made by either a deranged mind or by a film student. The plot is erratic at best, it needs some heavy "editing". It'd never survived a "studio", for good and bad reasons. It's an original take on the French "resistance", although following all the clichés (the dumb Germans/ "Boches") follow 2 stereotypes: a) cultivated, full of mannerisms (a good Roland Giraud) and b) fat ugly dumb characters (Jacques Villeret, who has acted like God on "Diner des cons" and "Les Enfants du Marais") (Gérard Jugnot, who did well in a small role at "Bronzés 3"). The prejudices on gays and foreigners, like Ramírez (let alone Germans, but that's natural given the "genre").What really puzzled me was the last "act". Very "Theatre in theatre", I think that, hadn't it been there, the audience would have appreciated. But playing mind games, acting well and pretending to be witty must have allured them to make one take too many.A film with Brialy and Balasko in very secondary roles has to be perfect or it's a failure. This is not exactly perfect... Michel Blanc (!), a dazzling Dominique Lavanant (Soeur Therese)... there's not one actor who cannot star a good film.Lhermitte as a Nazi is funny if peculiar, Yanne as a collaborationist is just one of the sour role we know he does so well.Jacques Villeret did the scene I liked most, his musical "numero" of Von Apfelstrudel (!)'s feelings. Perfect (and very funny!). Look at the "coreography" with Nazi soldiers moving like starlets :).I'm glad I saw this film, I think it's rather "corageous" in some of its aesthetic decisions, but wouldn't recommend it without knowing the audience's tastes!
biosthetique
The French haven't made a lot of funny movies about the dark period of the Nazi occupation of France. "La Grande Vadrouille" "untranslatable", more recently "Bon Voyage" "Pleasant Journey" and "Papy fait de la Resistance" "Grand daddy is a freedom fighter". This movie was made with the cast of the "Splendid", same cast which was used also to realize "Le Pere Noel est une Ordure" "Santa Claus is a Bastard". If you have seen "Santa Claus..." you are certainly already smiling thinking about how funny must be "Papy....". I was born and raised in France and my parents lived their youth during the occupation of France. They laugh even more than I did when they saw that movie. It is funny, sarcastic, irrelevancies for the French and the German. It is a gigantic joke that turned a sad part of French history into something really funny, laughable, and relaxing. Only the French can make fun of themselves in a laughable way, because they know what they are laughing about. The film is constantly making reference to little details that only the French could know. So if you don't know the French culture or history of France and are planning to see that movie, you will certainly enjoy it but will be missing half of it's content. If you know the French culture and French history, you are up for rolling and twisting on the floor laughing your a... off. A great moment of French Cinematography!...
Olivier_wery
Why compare a movie that portrays the french resistance as "heroique" to one that actually prints a slightly different version of things. Both comedies yes! But PFDLR is hilarious in filming the antics of Superresistant (a good nick at the american superhero myth), the gay hairdresser son of a bourgeois family, who lives a double life a nazi nightmare tormentor! The whole set is so modern in the description of the class society, with the bourgeois (The bourdelle family, especially 'high class' hilarious Jacqueline Maillan), the middle class (Taupin the countryside teacher who moves up to Paris and will end up a minister), and of course the working class(Jealous collaborator Ramirez, former cleaner at the opera house, interpreted by the hilarious Gerard Gugnot). This is so cruel, funny and brilliantly acted by the best ever gathered troop of french comedians!!! JM Poire has not always done good taste and truly humorous movies, but this one stands out as Top of The Crop, in my opinion. All is cliche, I don't know if all the subtleties can really be well understood abroad, but the only people this film should offend are the french!!! It is utterly politically incorrect and self deprecating, which "la Grande Vadrouille" was certainly never meant to be!!! An all time top 5 funniest comedy in my personal top comedy list!
Rene Schmidig
It is never as good as "La grande vadrouille". Some scenes are funny, others just too dumb. Why do German officers talk in French (with a wrong German accent) among them ? They have an impressive cast, but that's pretty much all this French comedy about the German invasion has to offer.
