Coluche Movies

Gaetan (Michel Serrault) is a television comic whose jokes have kept his program alive, but in more recent times, his senior gag writers have not had their hand on the pulse of his changing audience. A series of circumstances bring two young cafe-theater comedy writers to the rescue (Thierry Lhermitte and Gerard Jugnot), partially due to Gaetan's efforts. The new material is so successful that Gaetan is offered the lead in a serious feature-length movie, and if he had any hesitation about the venture, his wife squelched it with visions of a higher social and economic standing for them both. But the project does not go exactly as planned, and before he knows it, Gaetan runs into trouble. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this low-brow satire, French comedian Coluche exploits his talents for comic vulgarity in his role as the 10th-century King Dagobert I. The king's intestinal and sexual problems loom large as he survives an attack on his royal caravan then barely makes it to Rome to personally give thanks to the Pope. After he arrives at the Vatican, he becomes involved in the battle between two contenders for the papacy (Ugo Tognazzi in both roles) and has to face the machinations of a ruthless Byzantine princess (Carole Bouquet). With humor that consistently hits below the belt, and an ending that clashes with the rest of the film, this satire will not play the same to all audiences. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Isabelle Huppert plays an attractive Parisienne out looking for some fun during her vacation on the ski slopes of Courchevel in the Alps when she starts up a relationship with a great-looking sportswear salesman (Thierry Lhermitte), but at the same time, she is entranced by a little chubby disk jockey in a night club (Coluche). Come to find out, the salesman and the disk-jockey are best friends, complicating matters for everyone, especially when the disk-jockey begins to find his buddy's new flame irresistible. Although this is a sexual comedy meant as a vehicle for the talents of Coluche, it unfolds as a rather run-of-the-mill, sentimental, two-handkerchief story about the classic love triangle. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Lambert (Coluche) works at night as a gas station attendant, not even attempting to stay sober the rest of the time. Every night the young Bensoussan (Richard Anconina), a minor drug dealer, stops by the gas station on his motorcycle and the two men slowly establish a solid friendship. Their relationship deepens steadily, partly because Bensoussan reminds Lambert of his son -- and it is then revealed that Lambert is actually a former police inspector who hit the proverbial brick wall when his son died of a drug overdose and his wife left him. The well-developed, father-son-type friendship between Lambert and Bensoussan eventually causes the former police inspector to take up his old ways and go on a manhunt aided by Lola (Agnes Soral), Bensoussan's love interest. The two of them take on the underworld of drug cartels and hitmen, reaching ever closer to the highest bosses -- and closer to each other -- as their own lives are increasingly on the line. For some critics who may have been more accustomed to Coluche the comic, he may have been a little self-conscious in his part, and the movie slightly predictable, but at the same time Coluche received the 1984 Cesar award for "Best Actor" for his interpretation of Lambert, Richard Anconina received the "Best Supporting Actor" and "Most Promising Young Actor" awards, and two other Cesars went to this film for "Best Sound," and "Best Cinematography." ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The setting for this story is Rahatlcoum, a Roman colony in North Africa, but the "colonists" watch television, have gay bars, trade unions, and traffic problems -- something like the "Flintstones" in an Afro-French incarnation, slipping around on Monty Pythonesque dialogue. A gay Jules César's (Michel Sarrault) expensive vacation causes the population to grumble and gripe, they would rather have mechanic Ben Hur Marcel (Coluche) take Jules' place as their exalted leader. Once she gets out of jail, Cleopatra (Mimi Coutellier) declares that old Ben is actually her long-lost half-brother, and lo and behold, Marcel of the chariot taxis is named the new pharaoh, Aminemphet. French critics loved this film and American critics hated it, leading one to suspect that being French helps considerably in responding to its humor. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this satire, Coluche plays an inept king of France who is continually in danger of overthrow or murder by his scheming court and is kept on the throne by the efforts of his Musketeers, who also serve by wringing extra taxes out of the already hard-pressed population. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The feature debut of prominent French director Patrice Leconte is a spoof of the detective genre, done in absurdist, deadpan style. Gaspard Gazul (Roland Dubillard), a harmless bus ticket puncher, has been blown up in his own water closet with the door locked from the inside. A po-faced police inspector (Jean Rochefort) and his bumbling assistant (Coluche) investigate the case. The denouement is remarkably nonsensical, as is most of the film's plot. Most characters are comic variations of archetypes from classical French whodunits. ~ Yuri German, All Movie Guide

This is one of the seemingly innumerable French comedies made in the early '70s featuring the musicians-turned-comedians, Les Charlots. They play a group of inept but good-hearted fellows who help a small market owner compete with a large supermarket across the street by shoplifting enough from the big store to enable the smaller store to carry on. The store owner is able to re-do his little store and, though it offers little competition to the larger one, he is bought out for a lot of money. Highlights include a motorcycle chase and several songs. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide