Dreadfully Boring

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

On his dying bed, a middle-aged gangster entrusts both his fortune and his daughter to a childhood friend. This is not an easy task, since many of the dead man's underlings declare a revolt and refuse to pay their dues. Moreover, the said daughter turns out to be a charming but mischievous twenty-something of the pampered princess type, who is surrounded by all kinds of "jeunesse dorée" nitwits. A movie which, to put it mildly, does not live and breathe an all-embracing love for humanity. "Les tontons" is notable mainly for its excellent cast and performances - Ventura is outstanding - and for its sharp-witted dialogues, which are as cool and bracing as a vodka martini. Many of these "bons mots" and aphorisms have entered French culture. And rightly so : what about the psychological accuracy of a gem like "Morons will try anything, in fact that's how you recognize them" ?Serves as a useful reminder of the fact that many a golden-haired beauty owes her finishing school poise to an ancestral fortune rooted in violence, crime and exploitation.

I watched this movie in two sittings. It was so boring that I had to make a pause and continue the following day. The story is very silly. That is usually OK for comedies but silly do not always means funny. And this movie is not funny at all. I like intelligent comedies but this was not the case either. Until about half the movie I was quite puzzled because it seemed to me simple like a bad gangster movie, nothing funny happened. I don't get why it was funny to see the same smacking scene again and again. Some have commented about the use of French language. I guess it all went over my head as I watched it subtitled. I can speak some French but probably not to the level needed to appreciate those subtleties. I would not recommend this movie to anyone.

After the Killer Tomatoes we now have the Killer Uncles (a more or less literal translation of an untranslatable movie). The level of word-play may be guessed at even by non-French speakers when the credits announce it is based on the novel 'To grisbi or not grisbi', which is, in itself, a nod to another novel and classic French movie 'Touchez-pas aux grisbi', with 'grisbi' in both cases being underworld slang for 'loot' in the sense of 'hot' money. Although it has all the trappings of a 'gangster' entry this is actually a comedy of bad manners involving two factions led respectively by Lino Ventura and Bernard Blier. While ex-wrestler Ventura has no problem acting tough Blier, arguably the best actor in the piece by light years and equally at home across the acting spectrum, plays it for laffs so that what we wind up with is a melange. Another French classic. 8/10

I agree with all reviewers of this film, though they don't seem to agree one with the other. The thing is they're all right depending on how you focus on it. The other point is most of the reviewers, if not all of them, are French. And that is the point. You have to be French, otherwise, you'll pass over what makes this film so brilliant. In other words, what would be the point watching "gone with the wind" being deaf and blind? Still, if you are able to catch the delicious subtleness and unbelievable richness of Parisian argot (slang spoken for over 500 years makes it vintage. doesn't it ?), it is definitely a must see. Still, I gave it a 10 -1 rating. 10 because it's worth it, minus 1 because it's French.