A year ago, I had never heard of Michel Hazanavicius, Jean Dujardin, or Bérénice Bejo. They became well known to Americans following the release of and Oscar wins by "The Artist" (which is worth seeing). But they had worked on movies before that. One of these was "OSS 117: Le Caire nid d'espions" ("OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies" in English). Dujardin plays a spy very similar to James Bond who investigates intrigue and arms trading in Egypt. Much of the movie makes fun of western attitudes toward the Arab world, and in particular plays on the stereotypes of French men. It's the sort of movie whose purpose is mainly to be funny, and it succeeds. Bejo looks mighty sexy as the spy's contact in Egypt, as does Aure Atika as an Egyptian princess. Whether or not you've seen "The Artist", you're sure to love this one. In fact, watching either one is sure to help you appreciate the other more. Really cool.

I just saw this movie, actually it was a decision after watching "Jean Dujardin" amazing performance in "The Artist".The movie is nice and funny and sense of humor is surprising and far from being French.What really annoyed me is everything in the movie is not Egyptian or has do anything with Cairo. It's such a shame for a movie that's produced in 2006 to be unable to deliver such basic things, any kid can Google and get these info. The dialect is Moroccan -which you can consider a complete different language than the one spoken in Egypt, the Arabic translation is wrong with all plaques and signs in the movie, the customs, dresses and outfits are Moroccan, the locations and building styles are all Moroccan. I know it sounds irrelevant to most of people, but for me being Egyptian it does make a difference. Plus, you spend all that money on a movie and neglect such a thing where you could have easily hired some Egyptian staff to guide you through it on 2006? Other than that, it's a nice and funny movie and I recommend it!

If you're into James Bond, loved Top Secret and Clouseau, then you're going to love this one, too. And I'm glad it exists, because there had been a drought regarding really good spoofs recently! I saw this movie just recently for the first time, and the only reason I stayed with it while zapping was Jean Dujardin. My first thought was, "Weird guy, his face is like made from rubber", his range of facial expressions is really impressive, but his precision, too - you can clearly see that he must have invested a lot of work in his abilities. I liked Val Kilmer in Top Secret, but that movie lived off the hilarious ideas of the directors more than off the acting, and in this movie, it's the other way round - it's tailor-made for Dujardin, and he makes the most out of it. After seeing him, you'll immediately know what Connery was all about, as he's being dissected by Dujardin. No wonder he was perfect for playing a silent movie actor! Add a good prise of "super-agent"-daftness à la Sellers-Clouseau and on the other side, very intelligent puns (including "secret gems" :)) by the directing and screenplay, and voilà, you'll be entertained for an hour and a half. In a review, one would expect that the negative stuff one noticed will be discussed, too. You must excuse me, but - if there was any, I couldn't notice as I couldn't stop laughing! (The guitar scene is HILARIOUS).10 out of 10, can't help it!This is an instant classic, and it makes me want to see more from Dujardin, but from OSS-117 as well!

A friend of mine told me that this movie was worth a watch and that himself as well as his whole family had adored this funny movie. As I am fan of spy or police parodies in the key of "Mad Mission", "The naked gun" or "Austin Powers", I was looking forward to watch this movie with him.But this movie is maybe the worst comedy movie I have ever seen because it didn't make me laugh one single time. The main character is an annoying, superficial and stupid racist, sexist and anti-cultural snob that has to investigate on a boring random case along side with boring random characters. I know that the directors exactly wanted to create such a superficial and arrogant character but as I didn't get connected to him, I didn't get connected to the whole movie. The jokes are so childish that it made me despair. You open the lights and some chickens make some noise. You hit a muezzin because he wakes you up in the morning. You hit a partner because he forgets a stupid password. There were so many countless and boring jokes that the story line becomes absolutely secondary and random stuff and the pseudo-twist in the ending is also quite predictable.I really lost one and half hour of my precious life on this unfunny and annoying piece of garbage. I give one point for the beautiful landscapes and the fact that I was still hoping that there would be a turning point or a really funny scene in this movie which made me watch this until the very end. Well, I was wrong, but at least, I made it through the whole movie. But I wouldn't recommend to any one to live the same fate as I did. Just ignore the influenced and not very objective reviews by some French fans of the main actor (who did a decent job in the cult movie "Brice de Nice"). Give yourself a little gift and watch the "Mad Mission" series or if you want something French, go for "Welcome to the Sticks". Even my girlfriend who normally laughs about anything and adores comedy movies found this one annoying and boring.