***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS***
This is Leconte in his Francis Veber-Billy Wilder mode and no worse for that, indeed an early - and arguably the best - gag has Wilder written all over it. After one of the leisurely openings he favored at that time (see also Tandem) Leconte introduces Vincent Baradoc (Richard Bohringer), a somewhat reckless driver, albeit he seems to be in a remote area of rural France. If we wonder why he is wearing a flying helmet we learn quickly that he is a pilot for, after driving to a small airfield he climbs into a small two-seater biplane, the kind with open cockpits, and 'buzzes' his house where his wife, the gorgeous Michele Laroque, waves to him from an upstairs window and as we move closer we see that she is moving er ... rhythmically; she is, in fact, being 'serviced' by her lover even as Bohringer 'skywrites' her name above the house. This is the kind of gag that Wilder would have loved but would not have got away with in his prime but there's a topper. The next scene finds husband and wife at home with Bohringer letting us share his suspicions via some standard 'what did you do today while I was flying' dialogue. In the next scene Laroque is again entertaining her lover but this time in the missionary position which still allows her to look out the window. All at once she stops what she is doing and advises her lover to take it on the Jesse Owens. When he asks why she replies 'That's not his writing, it's someone else up there'. Okay, you had to be there but that is a pure Wilderian moment. Lover takes her at her word and drives off, only to be pursued by Bohringer and drive off the road terminally. Laroque is by now also driving away but Bohringer pursues her by air, drops a bouquet in front of her car asking her to meet him at the airfield. When she does he proclaims his love and offers her a spin to celebrate their anniversary. He straps her carefully into the front seat and once airborne announces he is going to loop the loop, adding that he has cut he harness so that at the top of the loop it will be goodbye, Charlie. In court an unseen judge (whose voice we recognize as belonging to Phillipe Noiret) pronounces him a free man. And this is where the story really starts. In a restaurant Noiret's nephew Paul (Thierry Thermitte) is busy seducing a young woman oblivious to his wife Marie (Miou-Miou) sitting behind him. He returns home to find her in, or rather on the marital bed, sitting astride a stranger and in yet another Wilder-Veber moment Vincent takes a seat beside the bed and discusses the situation with his wife. She is adamant that she is leaving him, gets up, pauses at the door to say to the stranger, 'goodbye, monsieur, sorry we didn't finish' and powders. Paul tells his uncle what has transpired and they decide that as long as Marie is alive he will not feel free to pursue other women. This is where Vincent comes in for the judge puts it to him that unless he agrees to kill Marie the dual murder case will be reopened. And still we have barely started. The three take to the road and bond and dozens of verbal and sight gags follow before Noiret utters a last line that is only a notch behind 'nobody's perfect'. Another of the joys - if you like French movies, that is - is seeing Miou-Miou, Carole Bouquet and Jean Roquefort, all unbilled, turning up for decent sized cameos for which they are thanked in the end credits. Road To Zanzibar it's not but Road To A Million Laffs it most certainly is.
This is Leconte in his Francis Veber-Billy Wilder mode and no worse for that, indeed an early - and arguably the best - gag has Wilder written all over it. After one of the leisurely openings he favored at that time (see also Tandem) Leconte introduces Vincent Baradoc (Richard Bohringer), a somewhat reckless driver, albeit he seems to be in a remote area of rural France. If we wonder why he is wearing a flying helmet we learn quickly that he is a pilot for, after driving to a small airfield he climbs into a small two-seater biplane, the kind with open cockpits, and 'buzzes' his house where his wife, the gorgeous Michele Laroque, waves to him from an upstairs window and as we move closer we see that she is moving er ... rhythmically; she is, in fact, being 'serviced' by her lover even as Bohringer 'skywrites' her name above the house. This is the kind of gag that Wilder would have loved but would not have got away with in his prime but there's a topper. The next scene finds husband and wife at home with Bohringer letting us share his suspicions via some standard 'what did you do today while I was flying' dialogue. In the next scene Laroque is again entertaining her lover but this time in the missionary position which still allows her to look out the window. All at once she stops what she is doing and advises her lover to take it on the Jesse Owens. When he asks why she replies 'That's not his writing, it's someone else up there'. Okay, you had to be there but that is a pure Wilderian moment. Lover takes her at her word and drives off, only to be pursued by Bohringer and drive off the road terminally. Laroque is by now also driving away but Bohringer pursues her by air, drops a bouquet in front of her car asking her to meet him at the airfield. When she does he proclaims his love and offers her a spin to celebrate their anniversary. He straps her carefully into the front seat and once airborne announces he is going to loop the loop, adding that he has cut he harness so that at the top of the loop it will be goodbye, Charlie. In court an unseen judge (whose voice we recognize as belonging to Phillipe Noiret) pronounces him a free man. And this is where the story really starts. In a restaurant Noiret's nephew Paul (Thierry Thermitte) is busy seducing a young woman oblivious to his wife Marie (Miou-Miou) sitting behind him. He returns home to find her in, or rather on the marital bed, sitting astride a stranger and in yet another Wilder-Veber moment Vincent takes a seat beside the bed and discusses the situation with his wife. She is adamant that she is leaving him, gets up, pauses at the door to say to the stranger, 'goodbye, monsieur, sorry we didn't finish' and powders. Paul tells his uncle what has transpired and they decide that as long as Marie is alive he will not feel free to pursue other women. This is where Vincent comes in for the judge puts it to him that unless he agrees to kill Marie the dual murder case will be reopened. And still we have barely started. The three take to the road and bond and dozens of verbal and sight gags follow before Noiret utters a last line that is only a notch behind 'nobody's perfect'. Another of the joys - if you like French movies, that is - is seeing Miou-Miou, Carole Bouquet and Jean Roquefort, all unbilled, turning up for decent sized cameos for which they are thanked in the end credits. Road To Zanzibar it's not but Road To A Million Laffs it most certainly is.