Monday, July 30, 2012

2009 - OSS 117: LOST IN RIO, further adventures of secret agent OSS 117

Goofball secret agent OSS 117 is back in another spy spoof and fortunately Jean Dujardin is once again playing him.  This time OSS 117 is in Rioon the trail of a bunch of Nazi's hiding out in South America.

With The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius cements his reputation as a rehasher of old genre films.  OSS 117:  Lost in Rio has a lot in common with The Artist mimicking the style of old films like The Artist did.  This film is loaded with 1960's split screen effects, Dean Martin music, women in mini skirts, lots of rear screen projection and guys in wrestling masks ( a nod to "El Santo" the cheesy Mexican wrestler series).  It all gets pretty silly towards the end of the film, Hazanavicius clearly was running out of ideas in this film and tries lots of visual dazzle that can't cover up was is essentially an empty film.


However what the film does have going for it is the return of Jean Dujardin as the handsome out of it goofball spy.  With his annoying laugh and clueless attitude about just about everything, Dujardin pretty much pulls this film across the finish line.  

101 minutes,  written by Jean-François Halin and Michel Hazanavicius.

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