Review #20: 'Le Dîner de Cons' (1998)

French comedy has always been something of a required taste. Whether it be the madcap, over-the-top physical comedy of Gerard Pires' 1998 Taxi, or the outrageous campness of 1978's La Cage Aux Folles, it's always been a hit-and-miss affair for me. One of France's more critically-acclaimed comedies, Le Diner De Cons (Dinner For Idiots), pretty much sums these feelings up for me. On one hand I found it clever, hilarious, and refreshingly savage, yet on the other hand I found it clumsy, obvious, and a bit up it's own arse.

It tells the story of a Parisian bourgeois Pierre Broachant (Thierry Lhermitte), a successful publisher who every week attends a dinner where the upper class get together and each bring along someone they consider an 'idiot' for their amusement. These 'idiots' are usually someone in a boring job and who have a peculiar interest or hobby. Each week a winner is selected when the biggest idiot is chosen. Pierre can't believe his luck when a friend recommends Francois Pignon (Jacques Villeret), who has a passion for building replicas of famous architecture out of matchsticks. Pierre pretends to be interested in publishing a book of all Francois' works, and invites him round to get a feel for him before taking him to dinner.

The day doesn't start well for Pierre when he injures his back playing tennis which renders him unable to attend the dinner, and his wife walks out on him after being tired of his sadistic dinners and overall feeling of arrogant superiority. When Francois arrives, Pierre is gobsmacked at the man's ineptitude and general stupidity, and is visibly excited about the prospect of taking him to dinner. But as the day goes on, Pierre finds it difficult to get rid of him. Francois' lack of social skills land Pierre into hot water, and only digs a bigger hole when he tries to resolve the situation.

The film takes a while to get into it's stride, spending the first 30-40 minutes basically showing what arseholes Pierre and his friends are. It's such an obvious and rather lazy attack on upper class arrogance that I failed to raise more than a smile during the first half. It's the kind of social commentary that Bunuel and Godard were so successful at in the 60's and 70's, and especially in the case of Bunuel, were also very funny. Thank God, then, that when the second half kicks in, the comedy starts to hit it's mark and the laughs come. Francois bumbles from one scene to the next - mistaking Pierre's wife for his mistress, inviting a tax inspector over when the house is full of undeclared antiques - and as Pierre disillusionment increases, the laughs come thicker and faster.

It's a fantastic performance by Villeret (who sadly died in 2005). He truly is an idiot, and doesn't overplay it . Same can be said for Lhermitte, who has to put in a much more subtle performance in stark contract to the Tati-esque baffoonery of Villeret. Watch this before you see the American remake Dinner For Schmucks (2010), starring Paul Rudd and Steve Carrell. I haven't see it, but judging from the trailer something tells me that this one will be superior.


Directed by: Francis Veber
Starring: Thierry Lhermitte, Jacques Villeret, Francis Huster
Country: France

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie