In this sequel to the huge hit "La vérité si je mens", we're back to the little Jewish community of the Sentier, a Parisian district specialised in textiles. While the first movie focussed on the sentimental and comedic adventures of Eddie (a goy trying to pass for a Jew though totally ignorant of Jewish traditions), the sequel is more about Eddie's friends, a colorful bunch of fast-talking, hot-tempered entrepreneurs who love nothing more than fast cars, fast women, glittering watches and flashy clothes. For the millions of people who saw the first episode, there's little new here : the same (or almost) characters return to their well-oiled roles and punchlines. Still, it's a better sequel than most. First, it has a story that is appropriate to our times: the little Davids of the Sentier are fighting a giant Goliath - a big supermarket chain, and their final vengeance is fun and inventive. Second, there's more room for detail and character definition. Particularly, José Garcia as Serge, the mythomaniac, pathetic loser of the team, is given a lot of screen time and makes a memorable impression (and, like Ben Stiller, he has a lot of hard time "Meeting the parents" !). Third, it's fast-paced and quite funny. In some way, it's hard to describe such a movie to non-French people as the community presented here cannot be found elsewhere. It is also close to impossible to translate, too, as most of the fun is in the "typical" slang (like the title itself). Here's a comparison that comes to mind : take the comedic moments of Italo-American gangster sagas (like Goodfellas or the Sopranos), keep the colorful language but replace handguns by yarmulkes !
Review of La vérité si je mens! 2
