Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Load of rubbish!!

Excellent, a Must See

A Disappointing Continuation

I suspect this movie grew out of the phenomenal success of Dany Boon's previous movie, Bienvenu chez les Ch'tis (2008), which set box office records in France two years before. That movie was about cultural differences between middle-class Frenchmen and the Ch'tis, the French who live in the far northeast corner of France (what was once the Nord Pas de Calais and is now trying to come up with a new name for itself). That movie plays on cultural stereotypes, true, but it is often very funny.This one is less funny, frankly, though not without laughs.This time the clash is between the French and the Belgians. More specifically, it is the story of a family of rabidly anti-French Belgians and the problems they cause for one of their own, who has had the misfortune to fall in love with a Frenchman (Boon). The jokes are usually pretty obvious, but the characters are generally likable - with the exception of the Belgian border patrol guard, who is just too extreme.You won't be bored, but I can't imagine you'd come back for seconds.

Given the commercial and critical success of director Dany Boon's earlier film Welcome to the Sticks, it is peculiar that his next project, Nothing to Declare, endured a straight-to-DVD release in France. This is despite its superb sense of humour, engaging interplay between characters and generally fun, light-hearted feel. The story, set in 1993, centres on the racist, trigger-happy Belgian Ruben (Benoit Poelvoorde), who is paired up against his will with Frenchman Mathias (Boon) in their effort to police the Franco-Belgian border. Compounding the strenuous partnership is the fact that Mathias is secretly dating overprotective Ruben's sister (Julie Bernard). Also intertwined in the story is the oafish Jacques and trying wife Irene, who turn to smuggling contraband between the borders to make ends meet, as well as the world's most incompetent drug ring and their short-tempered boss.Right off the bat, it's clear that Boon has a talent for ensemble directing. Although he and Poelvoorde share the lead, each fringe character enjoys ample screen time to tell their story and draw audience engagement, while all potential loose ends are appropriately tied up without leaving any individual's fate hanging in the balance.Humour is consistent throughout Nothing to Declare. Following a slow start, the film employs varying instances of physical, visual and verbal comedy, the latter of which is accentuated by the consistently tense, tight interplay between certain pairs of characters. The arguable highlight occurs as the criminals attempt to disguise their van as an ambulance for the purpose of drug smuggling, but honourable mentions must also go to Ruben's crude, xenophobic dad and the 'pimping-out' of Mathias's patrol car.Boon casually addresses the fine line between patriotism and racism with this film but, like all good comedies, it permits pure entertainment to take priority, without falling into the trap of becoming too preachy, political or divisive.*There's nothing I love more than a bit of feedback, good or bad. So drop me a line on jnatsis@iprimus.com.au and let me know what you thought of my review. If you're looking for a writer for your movie website or other publication, I'd also love to hear from you.*

The simplest way to summarise this film is to say that it is the equivalent of a B-side of Bienvenu chez les Ch'tis. I found the latter film amusing, but there are many, many French films which do better at providing comedy and a sense of heart-warming, and so it is still a mystery to me how it became France's most successful film of all time. Rien à déclarer has basically taken the same idea (a comedy which focuses on the negative stereotypes of northern France/Belgium) and then repeated it - with less skill. There are amusing moments, but too few and too far between. They are strongly outweighed by overacted slapstick and jokes which are schoolyard style at best. It would possibly have worked better if it had been aimed at all of the family, so that the children could watch a film which uses such childish humour. However, they ruined this opportunity by including scenes of drugs, violence and even nudity, with plenty of swearing! A bizarre decision to exclude such an audience! If you are considering this one, but haven't yet seen Bienvenu chez les ch'tis, then I would strongly recommend you chose the latter. If you have seen the latter, and are hoping to find the same thing with this Dany Boon offering, I would suggest you will only be disappointed.

I initially didn't want to see this movie because I didn't love the first one (allthough I liked parts of it) - bienvenue chez les chtis - and because the theme seemed to be kind of the same as in BCLC.I should have gone with my initial feelings, this movie is bad.Where the humor in the first one was indeed funny and original in "RAD" (rien a declarer) it's a "schoolyard - puberty - bad parts from Ali G." kind of humor. Sometimes I felt as if this movie was a costly produced school project. Some Ideas (that (if well executed) would have been a bit funny) were shown in such an exaggerated manner (e.g. time-wise) that I laughed in the beginning. But after some minutes of depictions of ONE single joke I wanted to cry."RAD" lacks a good storytelling, the filmmaker should have realized that it is not enough to string together some "half-baked" ideas.The whole French - Belgian thing was very badly realized and the acting was also done poorly (except Francois Damiens was funny in a quiet disturbing way). To sum up I'd say that: "This movie makes you laugh because of how bad it is and because you feel obliged to pursue its comedic intend."