This fizzy descendent of THE GANG THAT COULDN’T SHOOT STRAIGHT strikes an adept balance between suspense and comedy.
French crimelord Bastaldi (Richard Bohringer) offers a plum job in the US to Marcel Burot (Johnny Hallyday), Daniel Foray (Gerard Depardieu), Raymond Gayet (Albert Dray) and their buddies, even though they're completely inept on home ground. And he neglects to share some pertinent details, including he cosy relationship with the FBI and the fact that his brother Vincent is cooling his heels in an American prison. When they arrive in Chicago, the emigree burglars touch base with Bastaldi’s Yankee contact, Sophie Nicols (Joanne Kelly), who lays out the simple gig: All they need to do is remove a fortune in jewels from the bedroom safe of the Taylors, who won’t be home. But when Daniel and his buddies break into the address Sophie gave them, it turns out not to belong to the Taylors. They instead invade the home of Frankie Zammeti (Harvey Keitel), the second most powerful mobster in the windy city. Already in hot water, they turn up the heat on themselves by robbing Frankie’s safe anyway. Luckily for them, they also take custody of incriminating audio tapes of Frankie plotting to kill his boss, Angelo Giancarlo (Abe Vigoda). Naturally, Frankie will stop at nothing to reclaim his property, and crooked FBI agent Pogue (Shawn Lawrence) is just as determined to snatch the tapes first, so he can sell them to the highest bidder. The Frenchmen prove that they aren’t as stupid as they seem by deciding to broker their own deal with Angelo. Can they shake off Frankie and elude Pogue long enough to retreat to France?
This off-kilter farce benefits from the rubber-faced antics of its French stars and writer-director Brad Mirman demonstrates that larceny translates into any language, particularly when it's served with some laughs. leave a comment --Robert Pardi
