When reviews start appearing in magazines about films which will be released soon and the writers can't really write anything because the film wasn't shown to them... then normally there's something wrong in the state of Denmark, so to speak. The trailer(s) on the other hand looked fantastic and mouth watering, no matter in what language I checked (English, German, French).
I went to see this film because the first part had really surprised me (positively, I had expected a stupid cheap comedy), because I like Ben Stiller (Keeping the Faith, Tropic Thunder, Meet the Parents, lovely and promising) and because I love the guy who had the honour to play his famous countryman, Napoleon: Alain Chabat. Three good reasons and yet... after only half an hour or so I got a weird feeling I wouldn't be exactly happy when the film had finished and I would walk out of the cinema. And so it happened. But what had happened? Ben Stiller was funny, but not at his best. Larry Daley always seemed a bit remote-controlled, not really knowing on his own how to take the lead, where to go, what to do. He was the main character and then again not. The leading character, the one that you remember when the film is over, is Kahmunrah and his I dare say brilliant actor Hank Azaria, who deserves some real leading roles in the future. I hope someone will give him a couple soon, the man is simply wonderful. And the little Frenchman? I stick to watching his French films, as he actually gets to do something in them and I can actually understand what he says. I just hope his thick, incomprehensible accent was asked for by the director, because Monsieur Chabat's English in general thankfully is much better than that. For anyone who might be interested: "Papa", "I Do" (Prête-moi ta main) and "Didier" come warmly recommend, all available with English subtitles. But Napoleon in this film here, he was underused like the other baddies and could have been a great character if only the scriptwriters had let him. Some too short funny minimoments don't do the trick, sorry.
The whole film all in all seemed to be too long as certain scenes got boring because they were not fast enough, where other scenes should have been slower or different so that one could have actually got what all was going on as there was so much going on. Or maybe there just was too much going on in too many places with too many characters. Too many cooks spoil the broth, German saying, and there is something true about it.
So, well, I'm looking forward to the next films of Ben Stiller, Hank Azaria and Alain Chabat. Those three together again would be lovely, but with a slightly better script as they are all good actors and deserve good writing.
I went to see this film because the first part had really surprised me (positively, I had expected a stupid cheap comedy), because I like Ben Stiller (Keeping the Faith, Tropic Thunder, Meet the Parents, lovely and promising) and because I love the guy who had the honour to play his famous countryman, Napoleon: Alain Chabat. Three good reasons and yet... after only half an hour or so I got a weird feeling I wouldn't be exactly happy when the film had finished and I would walk out of the cinema. And so it happened. But what had happened? Ben Stiller was funny, but not at his best. Larry Daley always seemed a bit remote-controlled, not really knowing on his own how to take the lead, where to go, what to do. He was the main character and then again not. The leading character, the one that you remember when the film is over, is Kahmunrah and his I dare say brilliant actor Hank Azaria, who deserves some real leading roles in the future. I hope someone will give him a couple soon, the man is simply wonderful. And the little Frenchman? I stick to watching his French films, as he actually gets to do something in them and I can actually understand what he says. I just hope his thick, incomprehensible accent was asked for by the director, because Monsieur Chabat's English in general thankfully is much better than that. For anyone who might be interested: "Papa", "I Do" (Prête-moi ta main) and "Didier" come warmly recommend, all available with English subtitles. But Napoleon in this film here, he was underused like the other baddies and could have been a great character if only the scriptwriters had let him. Some too short funny minimoments don't do the trick, sorry.
The whole film all in all seemed to be too long as certain scenes got boring because they were not fast enough, where other scenes should have been slower or different so that one could have actually got what all was going on as there was so much going on. Or maybe there just was too much going on in too many places with too many characters. Too many cooks spoil the broth, German saying, and there is something true about it.
So, well, I'm looking forward to the next films of Ben Stiller, Hank Azaria and Alain Chabat. Those three together again would be lovely, but with a slightly better script as they are all good actors and deserve good writing.