I saw this movie when it first came out and really liked it. I recall it didn't do that well, perhaps because the trailer for it was so badly done.I decided to watch it again, and it's still very entertaining. It starts a little slow but gets nuttier and nuttier as it goes along. Jeff Goldblum is excellent as a volatile pianist and Bob Hoskins quite good as the meek protagonist. The plot is quite ingenious. The movie is quite silly and odd, and I can certainly see it wouldn't appeal to everyone, but for those who like quirky indie films, this is a great bet.

This might be considered a spoiler although it doesn't give away the movie, it just describes one particular scene I always found totally hilarious. Hoskins is carrying a silver coffee service tray back to where Goldblum is so they can both have a cup. As he approaches Goldblum, Goldblum's face becomes a mask of fury and smashes his Jesus staff across Hoskins' head. Hoskins staggers and apologetically says "Ah cudn't rumembah if you took milk..." and then collapses...Now I have to write other comments because unless I meet the ten line requirement, even though I've actually said all I want to say, I won't be allowed to post this comment. How ludicrous is that? Too bad I'm not getting paid per word. Which reminds me. Why do you suppose IMDb has such an idiotic stipulation? Do you suppose THEY are getting paid per word? Anyway, Goldblum showed the exact same face of rage when he began wailing on Kieren Culkin in Igby Goes Down. And once again, it was for almost the same reason. Weird.

You have to enjoy dry humor to really get the benifet of the film. Bob Hoskins plays the main character Louis Aubinard who thinks he is the most unlucky person on the face of the earth. His whole life begins to change when his boss played by Michel Blanc threatens to fire him if he does not find an actor to be photographed as Jesus. After work he visits his friend Zalmen who is sick he asks Louis to do him a FAVOR. He asks him to go down to studio and pretend that he is him and do the sound affects for a film. After that he seea a fish market outside his friend's apartment building and sees a VERY BIG FISH and buys it for supper. The next morning he goes to the studio only to find out he is looping sound affects for a porno film. At the studio he works with a women by the name of Sybil played by Natasha Richardson. When going out to lunch with her she tells the him the story of her last job and a never smiling pianist who falls head over heals for her. She meets him because of a little rich girl who will give her a WATCH if she can get him to smile. And that is only the first 45 minutes of this very humorus film. It is a great film to watch on a rainy day.

This is a new approach to comedy. It isn't funny.The joke is that this, in and of itself, is supposed to be funny.The story is based on a French short story, located in Paris, and the characters have French names. Louis Aubinard, for example ... played by ... Bob Hoskins? The movie also stars the equally French Jeff Goldblum and Natasha Richardson. The situations are similar to and the characters perform as if in those Carry-On movies from years back.I believe these are also jokes - to cast these actors who make no attempt to act French in any way, to have them cavort in the manner of broad English dance hall comedy, and to leave the whole bloomin' mystery unexplained to the audience.In the humour department, this is practically the Algonquin Round Table, isn't it?The movie tries to be charming and quirky, and I guess these characteristics are sort of funny. Not as funny as Duck Soup or Love and Death, perhaps, but funnier than The Deer Hunter or The Battleship Potemkin.It is an example of personal filmmaking. It makes no real effort to reach out and share with the audience, but stays true to its premise and its internal logic. Although all the situations are unbelievable, they are logical within the film's own bizarro world.I generally like this kind of eccentric movie, but I found this one to be paced too slowly, to be dull-witted, tedious, and to provide too few pleasurable surprises or genuine wit. It just kind of meanders in predictable and sophomoric ways, and wastes some wonderful talents along the way. It has to be the low point in the career of each of the major stars, who are all otherwise distinguished players. I found it to be the biggest waste of talent since The Betsy, and I wish I had never seen Goldblum and Hoskins in this thing.So, call it an interesting miss, and pass on it as a rental unless you really have a lot of time to kill.