Olivier Nakache, Éric Toledano
Troppo amici

This film is directed by the same directors as the much more famous "Intouchables".

It is from 2009, shot before Intouchables but only released in Italy in 2012, probably following the success of the "almost".

It's a rather lively French comedy.

There is this couple in their mid-thirties. They have a 6-year-old son who is very, very lively (he will create problems), but he can recite the alphabet with burps...

The father is a former holiday camp animator, today he is precarious, when things go well. He seems not to care about anything, he seems like a lazy-ass who doesn't care, actually more than "seems", that's exactly how he is...

Then there are her relatives, a certain Western bourgeoisie, he (her brother) is a half-failed lawyer, she is like Truman Show's wife (remember?) too absurd to be real. Their young daughter speaks 5 languages and plays 5 instruments (oh yes, really!).

Then there is another sister of hers and the little lawyer, who has a strong desire for motherhood and flirts at work, a supermarket where the sister, wife of the lazy guy, also works, a handsome black man (he's the terrific actor from Intouchables) and she brings him that same evening to this "family" dinner.

So there's a dinner with all these characters and that's where the chaos begins.

Although in the first part (the dinner) you chuckle here and there without any particularly memorable situations, nor original or striking sketches, the film is watchable and flows light, unengaged.

As it progresses, however, the situations become increasingly hilarious and implausible, and the grotesque-dramatic aspect, which at first is sidelined, starts to take its space until it structures the work with a more articulated and complete shape. Thus, not just a light comedy, at times even silly and somewhat déjà vu, but a film rich with details and rather tangled situations, with a sustained rhythm, moving on multiple fronts (it's a choral film) without losing the plot, and as it advances it digs deeply, going on to characterize its initially just sketched characters, uncovering their masks, vices, and weaknesses...

It's a 3-and-a-half-star film, I'll round it to 4 because I'm kind, actually it falls into that particular category called (by me) "those 3 stars that really make you feel good" which sometimes are worth more than a 4-star when you might say oh yes nice this 4-star movie but what a burden, what heaviness, etc. Got it?

For passing a relaxed evening and having a few laughs, it's more than recommended.