From the clean, modern tone of this film, you’d never guess it is not the first, but the second remake. L’Emmedeur, billed this time over as A Pain in the Ass, is based upon a play written by French director Francis Veber around forty years ago. He then made it into a film, which was consequently remade in the 70s under the title Buddy Buddy and starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. But this latest effort eclipses both its predecessors, offering viewers not only Veber’s typical farce but a fresh look and fast paced storytelling.

The plot centres on two men, Jean Milan and Francois Pignon (a sad character who pops up in many of Veber’s works) who find themselves in adjoining hotel rooms, but for very different reasons. Milan, played by Richard Berry, is a hitman hired to gun down a political figure due to be tried in court across the road from the hotel. Pignon, this time portrayed by French actor Patrick Timsit, is a broken-hearted man whose wife has left him for a narcissistic psychiatrist; subsequently, he has booked into the hotel to commit suicide. In a quirky and often hilarious series of events the men become “friends”.

The director largely manages to avoid monotony by keeping us wondering whether either Pignon or Milan will succeed in their original intentions, which are very dark in comparison to the light-hearted character portrayals and humorous tone of the film. A Pain in the Ass also features Pascal Elbe, as the narcissistic womaniser, and Virginie Ledoven as Louise, Pignon’s estranged wife. Ledoven doesn’t add much, but Pascal Elbe provides the much-needed “bad guy”, as well as functioning as a plot-device. Other elements such as the cinematography and music are nothing special, but the editing deserves a mention as it is swift and fresh, keeping the pace, emulating that of Ocean’s Twelve.

Verdict:
A Pain in the Ass runs for 95 minutes, which is just long enough for a comedy of the sort. All in all it isn’t a bad film – the acting and storytelling are slick and fresh, which means that the rest falls into place.

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