Dieudonne Movies

Based on the original '60s French comic books by René Goscinny, Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre is the big-budget sequel to the 1999 box-office hit Astérix and Obélix vs. Caesar. Empress Cleopatra (Monica Bellucci) makes a wager with Julius Caesar (played by writer/director Alain Chabat) that her people can build a beautiful palace in three months. She chooses architect Numerobis (Jamel Debbouze) for the project, which must be completed in time or he will be fed to the crocodiles. Numerobis travels to Gaul to get help from the superpowered Panoramix (Claude Rich) and the warriors Astérix (Christian Clavier) and Obélix (Gérard Depardieu), along with their faithful pet Dogmatix. They use their magic potion to make the Egyptian slave-labor population into superheroes, thereby building the palace in no time. Meanwhile, the angry architect Amonbofis (Gérard Darmon) and Julius Caesar don't want to see them succeed. At the time of its release, Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre was the most expensive French film ever made, with a budget of $50 million. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

This is a comedy about homosexuals, transvestites, and taboos. The main character is a young woman from the provinces whose gay father lives in Paris. She decides to dress like a man to understand social prejudice. The director, who plays the main character, wrote the script with her sister. Their joint efforts draw an insightful portrait of life's lies, hypocrisies, and illusions. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, Rovi

In this French fantasy-comedy, a magical moonbeam turns a dog into a man's best friend. Annabelle (Caroline Cellier) is a reporter who is sent on an overseas assignment and doesn't think it would be such a great idea to bring Didier, her Golden Retriever, along, so she leaves the pooch in the care of her friend Costa (Jean-Pierre Bacri). Costa is less than excited about being handed dogsitting duties, since he has enough on his mind as it is; he's the coach of a soccer team that has been playing poorly since their star player was sidelined with an injury, and his girlfriend has just given him his walking papers. But one evening a moonbeam glides over Didier, and suddenly the dog is magically transformed into a man (played by Alain Chabat), as luck would have it for Costa, a man who happens to be a really great soccer player. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi