Khalid Maadour Movies

OSS 117: Cairo -- Nest of Spies constitutes the eighth installment in a long-running series of movies about OSS 117 (the government code name for Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath) -- a French super-spy and European equivalent of James Bond. The creation of author Jean Bruce, OSS eventually starred in over 265 novels and seven cinematizations through 1970. The first seven film outings were sober and straight-faced; the eighth go-round (the first after a 38-year lapse) does a 180 to shamelessly poke fun of the rules established by the genre. A glib yet intelligent spoof, it joins the ranks of Our Man Flint (1965), Aghaye Hallou (1970), Mad Mission 3: Our Man from Bond Street (1984), and other international pictures that glibly satirize the subgenre made infamous to Americans by Bond; like Mad Mission 3, it even packs in an OSS 117 (Jean Dujardin) with a startling resemblance to Sean Connery. The film's comic conceit involves making OSS 117 arrogant, conceited, culturally insensitive, chauvinistic, and thoroughly moronic (he pretends that various cultural institutions and religious practices, for instance, are nonexistent if he is unfamiliar with them); yet the character somehow manages to slide through outrageously dangerous situations unscathed, time and again. The teaser prologue finds OSS 117 in Berlin, where he outwits the Nazis by stealing vital documents from them, hijacks an Axis plane in mid-nosedive, and saves himself and the craft at the last yawning moment. Ten years later, he journeys from Rome to Cairo, where he investigates the death of a fellow agent, posing as the proprietor of a chicken farm. His "side" activities during this jaunt involve hammering out a peace arrangement for the Middle East, keeping tabs on the Suez Canal, and monitoring the Russians. Jean-François Halin scripted the film, maintaining an utterly deadpan tone throughout; Michel Hazanavicius directed. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

The universal language of youthful rebellion takes center stage in director Laïla Marrakchi's tale of a Moroccan Muslim teen who falls for a handsome and progressive-minded Jewish boy. High school is drawing to a close for 17-year-old Rita (Morjana Alaoui) and her carefree friends, and as the footloose girls pound the pavement of Casablanca's Anfa district, it seems that their summer of fun is already well under way. When Rita meets fun-loving Youri (Matthieu Boujenah) and the pair hit it off, her liberal Muslim family's open-minds soon begin to close when they discover that their daughter's new boyfriend is Jewish. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A budding misfit finds his troubles are just beginning when he's sent to a school run by his mom and dad in this comedy from France. Daniel (Damien Jouillerot) is the overweight and socially inept son of Pierre (Olivier Gourmet) and Genevieve (Carole Bouquet), a couple who run a boarding school for troubled kids. 15-year-old Daniel is having a hard time with the physical and emotional trials of adolescence, and things don't improve a bit for him when his folks enroll him in their school, especially since most of the students are convinced he's getting an easy ride. Daniel makes friends with Zygelman (Raphael Goldman), but when Zygelman is thrown out of school after an incident involving the undergarments of a female classmate, Daniel falls in with Jean-Claude (Franc Bruneau), a student with a criminal streak who brings Daniel in as an assistant in his latest illegal business venture. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

French filmmakers Alain Berberian and Frédéric Forestier direct the buddy action comedy Le Boulet (Dead Weight). Tough criminal Moltes (Gérard Lanvin) lands in jail after killing the brother of the Turk (José Garcia). Prison guard Reggio (Benoît Poelvoorde) lets Moltes have a weekly lottery ticket in exchange for his suave relationship advice. When Moltes learns that he has a winning lottery ticket, he breaks out of jail to claim his money. However, Reggio's girlfriend, Pauline (Rossy de Palma), has the ticket with her in Africa. The action involves the odd couple teaming up to find the ticket while being chased by Det. Youssouf (Djimon Hounsou), along with the vengeful Turk and the Giant (Gary Tiplady). ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi