Overrated

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Mario, a thief that has spent seven years in jail gets released. Two former partners in crime await for him to settle a score. The duo want to get their share of a robbery they worked together where up to a million and a half Euros is hidden somewhere, and now, they want Mario to give them what the shares due to them. The only problem is that Mario has to go to a small town where the treasure is buried, but he wants no company.As a solution to his problems, Mario goes to his brother Patrick, a Catholic priest, for help. The brother suggests he travels dressed as a priest since he has the proper outfit for the journey. When Mario arrives in his priestly garb, he finds a welcoming committee that confuses him with their new pastor because of the death of their beloved priest. At this moment everything breaks loose."Hallelujah" as the film was retitled for its English release, is an old fashioned French comedy directed by Roger Delattre and written by its star, Jean-Marie Bigard, who takes the role that would have gone in years gone by to Fernandel. or Louis De Funes, or even Coluche. It is clearly a pleasant time at the movies, but do not expect fireworks because it is a conventional story that was probably created to serve the star. Just go for the mindless fun and enjoy. Mr. Bigard plays the criminal who impersonates a priest with gusto.The film was filmed in the Rhone Alpes towns of Banne and Ardeche, which are picturesque and serve the action well. Thierry Arbogast, the cinematographer gets the essence of the small places.

my french is very limited, thus there might have been much humour that i didn't understand, but i feel this film was not made as a comedy but rather more as a satire. there were many ironies going on in the show: jailbird becoming priest, even bettering others in the job; priest becoming attracted to forces in materialism and the secular world; police and priest both see alcohol and sex as part of life and commoners empathising with that; and finally the irony of the neverending disputes of religions as opposed to how love could unite disparate beliefs. those who often seek divine help, hardly know that those who have genuine solutions to their problems are people not much different from them, perhaps merely more confident.

I think that people that don't speak or understand French should not watch this movie because French films are made to watch in French. I think people should stop rating this film and just not watch French movies if they watch it English. I'm warning you if you watch this film in English, it will loose it's every aspect it's worth watching for. The difference between English and French films is that even though you can add French or English dubs to a movie, you can translate a movie from one language to another, but you can never translate everything. I've watched French films in English, there's no point because it's a completely different film. This film is funny,sarcastic, slightly violent but in a funny way and full of French jokes which is impossible to translate to English. So I suggest for people not to watch this film unless they speak and understand perfectly the French language. This movie deserves more than it was rated.

Jean-Marie Bigard is well known in France for his crude sexual jokes. I was rather surprised while watching this movie to see how 'contended' he might be for his part - much more subtle than I expected.The duo Doudi-Bigard worked quiet well for 3/4 of the movie and I enjoyed many of the characters part. The movie suddenly seemed to go a different way in the last quarter, trying to deliver some kind of moralistic message that didn't convince me too much.Story pitch (may content minor spoilers) : Mario (J-M Bigard) is just released from jail after a 7 years detention for jewels robbery. Some of his 'old friends' are waiting for him at the prison entrance because he is the only one to know the location of very precious jewels from a previous robbery. After a few intimidations, Mario is going to his brother Patrick (Doudi Strajmayster) - a priest - to find a place to hide from his dangerous friends. Patrick's only idea is to disguise Mario as a priest and send him in a very isolated village in Ardeche as a priest student. But once Mario arrives in the village of Banne, the crowd there is awaiting for him to bury the just passed-away former local priest - and take his place ! In the meantime, Mario asks his brother Patrick to retrieve the jewels and sell them to a local mafia boss. The more the story evolves, the more the two characters take the position of one another with unexpected consequences !I gave it a 6/10 because of the good performance of the actors even if the story is sometimes a bit predictable and annoying - some good parts are irresistible to laugh at. A good average french comedy.