OSS 117: Lost In Rio is the sequel from OSS 117: Cairo, Nest Of Spies from 2006. It's about the same level of humor, I wouldn't say there is any difference of quality between those two movies. It's still as silly as it can be, not the kind of humor everybody likes. For me it's just about okay, good enough to watch once but that's about it. The French secret agent OSS 117 is a mixture of Austin Powers, James Bond and Peter Sellers in The Pink Panther. He's a bit stupid but always manages to solve a case and that with alot of luck. Jean Dujardin has the right silly face to play that role. OSS 117 is a bit sexist and racist if you ask me but I guess it fits his character from the sixties. The whole shooting of the movie feels like everything is from the sixties, even the making of the movie. Don't expect a serious story because there is absolutely nothing serious about this movie. A Sean Connery look-a-like secret agent, charming but sexist, a couple dozens of goodlooking girls, a bunch of bad guys and that's what you get for the entire movie.

I am yet to see The Artist, the film that conquered the Academy preferences and received the Oscar for the Best Film, as well as the Best Actor award for Jean Dujardin. I had recorded however about one year ago one of the previous films made by director Michel Hazanavicius with Dujardin in the principal role as well. Now I included it in the holidays season viewing package, and it was one of the most pleasant and holiday-suited choice that I made.Lost in Rio (the English title) or Rio ne répond plus happens in the 1960s, when most of the novels of Jean Bruce were written. Bruce's hero Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath was a replica of James Bond, one of the many created in the decades after the apparition of the novels of Jan Fleming, but he had a French touch and Gallic humor, which is the focus of the interpretation of director Hazanavicius. At no moment does he try to be politically correct, actually under the cover of making a film about the 60s he allows to himself to mock and exaggerate stereotypes of French, German and Israelis, Nazis and Nazi-hunters, macho men and babe-shaped women. The result is pretty funny.Do not invest too much into probing the credibility of the story, sit, relax and prepare for a few good laughs. If you follow this path there are good chances to enjoy this film. Jean Dujardin is certainly a great actor, and watching his work is a delight. An eyebrow, a faint smile or an hysterical laugh can sustain a full gag. He is in good company. I remember some of the French comedies of the 60s and they were really good, not only because they were blessing by actors such as Louis de Funes, Fernandel and Bourvil, but also because they allowed themselves to be crazy and ignore the social conventions. Everything was fair game for laughing. Films like this one, even if they do not hit gold as The Artist contain the promise of starting to build another significant lot of comedies in the French cinema.

OSS 117 is a french secret agent, a very very french one. His new mission is to exchange a microfilm for money with an ex Nazi in Brazil. for this mission, he will have to team up with a Jewish sexy secret agent and the hippie son of the ex-Nazi. Whatever...The story is not that interesting, this is a parody of 007, a fine one. here, the hero is stupid and old fashioned, but sure to be the opposite. every single line he says is full of anachronism and ignorance, he has no idea of what he's dealing with and he's kind of childish. But he's the best french agent. Hubert Bonisseur de labathe is our own french Austin Power, for a more mature audience. Here, the laugh comes from the gap between the world OSS thinks he lives in and the real world, and the fact that, even facing the real world, he never changes his mind. The first episode was great, funny and thrilling, a complete absurd spy movie. this one is funnier, because now, we now the main character is a complete idiot, but he always gets what he wants, even if quite don't understand how.

A spy spoof where the hero is a low-brow and self-important tough guy? Well, we're nowhere close to a genius idea, yet it proves to be a really fine approach when depicting racial/sexual prejudices in that big jaw-dropping mouth of OSS117.Unfortunately he will never be made to look altogether ridiculous. His female sidekick has the unredeeming part of standing one foot in reality while listening to the French agent's abysmal puns without ever punching him in the mouth.All this stuffy stuff is a big joke, OSS117 is a funny a**hole (at least he thinks he's funny) and nothing is serious. The movie ends up as stupid as its main character, except for a couple of fine one-liners. I suppose we can call this a success as long as there is an audience willing to revere in dumb and dumber bouts of action canned with zero respect for the craft of visual storytelling. A full bag of (mostly) terrible jokes will never make up for the skills of polishing a storyline and building characters, even stupid characters. Even more über stupid characters.