Ruby & Quentin – Der Killer und die Klette (2003)

Ruby u0026 Quentin – Der Killer und die Klette: Directed by Francis Veber. With Gérard Depardieu, Jean Reno, Richard Berry, André Dussollier. A tough criminal is arrested after hiding the loot from a Paris armored truck robbery. A talkative dimwit befriends him in prison and escapes with him – chased by police and his evil crime boss.

“Francis Veber has been known for his ability to construct extremely entertaining films. Most of his films are built in the same way, very classical. This mix includes 2 main characters, who basically shouldnu0026#39;t have anything to do with each other but who due to circumstances get together. Then you add a couple of truculent second roles and a series of inevitable clashes between those two. This structure was used among others in u0026quot;La Chèvre (The Goat) 1981u0026quot;, starring Pierre Richard and Gerard Depardieu. An interesting point about Depardieu is that while he played the tough guy in The Goat, he got the opposite role, the stupid, nice guy in u0026quot;Tais-toi (Ruby u0026amp; Quentin)u0026quot;. Needless to say he is evenly amazing in both, even more as the stupid character where he brings such a pure, simple sense of humanity that you canu0026#39;t feel sympathy for him. Both films deserves their place in an anthology of french humour. Francis Veber likes those -a little bit simple- guys because they offer a lot of potential for comic situations. And while you laugh at these naive character, itu0026#39;s never aimed to make fool of them. Their humanity always eventually prevail and even the tough guy, the one who just wanted to get rid of them at the beginning of the film, finally likes them. In their simplicity, they saw or did things a tough guy would never do, but in a certain unlikely way, they helped. So Tais-toi is a skillfully crafted piece of pure enjoyment, I would even say a master work in the comedy category. No dead moments, every single line of the script is there for a single purpose: to entertain us without appealing to our worst instincts. On the contrary.”