Pierre Richard could be the french cousin of Rowan Atkinson: both are comedy actors skilled in pantomime with Pierre being however more frenetic and twister like. Here there are some really great funny moments in which his absent mind brings chaos; but sometimes some jokes are much too long and for a result not that funny
So this movie is like a roller coaster: with up and down
I expected some nostalgic view of Paris in the 70s and there is little so I am unsatisfied ... but the movie being about the advertising world, we can have however a taste of what french society was in this decade. I also give good mention to his entourage: Blier is cool as his compromised boss and Preboit is as lunatic as Pierre so when the two are together, everything fails really hard!
6 Reviews
An underestimated classic !
pvsp6 August 2003
I wonder why Pierre Richard is so under estimated here in France ? This film, and also "les malheurs d'alfred", are among the ten best french comedies of the last three decades. Despite his 70's look, the movie is still so fresh and actual. Pierre Richard is somewhere between Jacques Tati and Jim Carrey. The soundtrack is also a classic. DAVID, La Rochelle, France
You keep thinking a Pierre Richard comedy is going to start here any minute but alas...
teeter_mark24 October 2020
That Pierre Richard is a comedic genius is beyond question, yet this laborious effort at light-hearted farce -- directed, co-written and starring PR, everybody's favorite Tall Blond Man -- is a misfire from start to finish. Strained physical comedy, double-take visual jokes that lack a point, one-dimensional supporting characters given little to do and the absence of any particular plot render this series of anecdotes an hour and a half you'll regret losing.
PR himself is always amusing, and he has several moments here that will make you smile broadly. But the other 95% of his screen time is either mugging for mugging's sake, which gets old fast, or simply shtick -- which he sets up and performs far better in any other movie of his from the '70s-80s.
Strictly for completists and the very easily entertained.
I laughed so hard I cried.
dmbhutch24 July 2000
I saw this movie in the 70's as part of my French class field trip and "cultural experience". It was hilarious, I laughed until I cried. I've remembered it all these years and would love to see it again. I recommend it as Pierre Richard makes excellent use of props, especially chairs, to put the audience into hysterics.
French Peter Sellers
juliensp23 August 2002
Richard played and directed this movie. Gags are nonsense and are quite hilarious. He has a lot to teach to new generation of comics. (For how long have I not seen a good comedy). He is in the same vein than Monthy Python or Peter Sellers with this extra French touch which makes him so loveable.
wool-gathering idiot driving his boss and his firm to the edge of ruin
myriamlenys25 February 2020
Warning: Spoilers
A young man called Pierre Malaquet is an absent-minded fool with a liking for weird stunts and black humour. Hired by an important publicity firm, he creates one disaster after another. His boss, a canny and cynical businessman, would like to fire him, but sadly enough he made a promise to Pierre's delightful mother...
"Le distrait" is a jolly farce with a lot of gags and slapstick. Not everything works, but the things that do work are funny indeed. Pierre Richard is pretty good as the eccentric, absent-minded protagonist, but in my humble opinion the comedic laurel crown should go to Bernard Blier, who plays his long-suffering boss. (Watch out for the running gag with the said boss romantically courting his lady love, who keeps on cooing "gazoo, gazoo".)
Being a disastrously absent-minded person myself, I recognize at least some of the situations - stepping into the wrong car, walking into the wrong room, carrying the wrong luggage, and so on. Many's the time I've found myself staring at a deserted railway station or standing before a closed gate...
But I digress. "Le distrait" is also a satire on the world of advertising. The tone is set quite early in the movie, with a number of serious-faced experts discussing a publicity campaign while studying a poster with a smiling dog. (Should one say "With brand X our little dog is smiling ?" or rather "With brand X our little dog is smiling again ?") Our young protagonist firmly believes that the public needs to be shocked and surprised ; true to his convictions he organizes discombobulating happenings and bizarre stunts, often with wide-ranging consequences. Some of these ideas and some of these actions feel strangely modern - think internet, think influencers, think bloggers and vloggers.
Not a perfect movie, but a very funny one.
"Le distrait" is a jolly farce with a lot of gags and slapstick. Not everything works, but the things that do work are funny indeed. Pierre Richard is pretty good as the eccentric, absent-minded protagonist, but in my humble opinion the comedic laurel crown should go to Bernard Blier, who plays his long-suffering boss. (Watch out for the running gag with the said boss romantically courting his lady love, who keeps on cooing "gazoo, gazoo".)
Being a disastrously absent-minded person myself, I recognize at least some of the situations - stepping into the wrong car, walking into the wrong room, carrying the wrong luggage, and so on. Many's the time I've found myself staring at a deserted railway station or standing before a closed gate...
But I digress. "Le distrait" is also a satire on the world of advertising. The tone is set quite early in the movie, with a number of serious-faced experts discussing a publicity campaign while studying a poster with a smiling dog. (Should one say "With brand X our little dog is smiling ?" or rather "With brand X our little dog is smiling again ?") Our young protagonist firmly believes that the public needs to be shocked and surprised ; true to his convictions he organizes discombobulating happenings and bizarre stunts, often with wide-ranging consequences. Some of these ideas and some of these actions feel strangely modern - think internet, think influencers, think bloggers and vloggers.
Not a perfect movie, but a very funny one.
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