Three middle-class men perpetrate an armed heist because one of the robber's wife needs a new moped so she won't have to take the bus to work. A misguided blasphemy of Bicycle Thief, downloaded through film-noir affectations, this Competition Entrant is morally specious and narratively nonsensical. Film might be more aptly retitled The Right of the Whiners, given its dimwitted ethics.
In this ridiculously implausible scenario, over-educated househusband Patrick (Eric Caravaca) is too proud to allow his working wife to accept a new scooter from her father because he feels his manhood threatened. He whines about it to his card buddies down at the bistro, old-timers who live nearby in a government-run high rise that houses the disbled on one floor. Also, there's a newcomer, yup, a silent stranger just out of prison for armed robbery.
Feeling sorry for himself and chalking up gaming losses, Patrick wallows in self-pity to such a pitiful depth that it inspires the old guys to concoct a plan - they will hold up their former place of employment, a shut-down steel plant where some shady execs are scamming money via scrap metal sales. It's all right to steal from your former place of employment since it shut down and you're now on the dole? They deserve it, right? Such is the moral turpitude of filmmaker Lucas Belvaux's scummy screenplay. Only those who believe that McDonald's customers who spill hot coffee on themselves deserve millions, will see the disgusting morals of the storyline.
Although the ex-con realizes the idiocy of the plan and bales, the other three stooges with no robbery skills embark on armed robbery. It's so lamebrained (but not in a Sunshine Boys comic kind of way) that it's actually painful to watch. That family-man and ultra Schmiel Patrick would risk his family life for such a dumb heist is preposterous. He is not exactly Jean Valjean. Evidently, we're supposed to root for the other two guys because it gives them something to do and inspires their boy-ish spirits. In the process, they kill an innocent man.
Twirling this twaddle around a noir-ish styled midsection, filmmaker Lucas Belvaux benefits from the luminous and artfully slanted cinematography of Pierre Melon. Riccardo Del Fra's original soundtrack also lays down some smudgy sounds, which are wasted on this bilge.
THE RIGHT OF THE WEAKEST
Diaphana Distribution
Agat Films & Cie and Entre Chien et Loup in co-production with France 3 Cinema, RTBF, Araneo Belgium, Aterliers de Baere
Credits: Screenwriter-director: Lucas Belvaux; Director of photography: Pierre Milon; Production designer: Frederique Belvaux; Costume designer: Nathalie Raoul; Editor: Ludo Troch. Cast. Patrick: Eric Caravaca; Carole: Natacha Regnier; Marc: Lucas Belvaux; Jean-Pierre: Patrick Descamps; Robert: Claude Semal; Steve: Elie Belvaux.
No MPAA rating, running time 116 minutes.
In this ridiculously implausible scenario, over-educated househusband Patrick (Eric Caravaca) is too proud to allow his working wife to accept a new scooter from her father because he feels his manhood threatened. He whines about it to his card buddies down at the bistro, old-timers who live nearby in a government-run high rise that houses the disbled on one floor. Also, there's a newcomer, yup, a silent stranger just out of prison for armed robbery.
Feeling sorry for himself and chalking up gaming losses, Patrick wallows in self-pity to such a pitiful depth that it inspires the old guys to concoct a plan - they will hold up their former place of employment, a shut-down steel plant where some shady execs are scamming money via scrap metal sales. It's all right to steal from your former place of employment since it shut down and you're now on the dole? They deserve it, right? Such is the moral turpitude of filmmaker Lucas Belvaux's scummy screenplay. Only those who believe that McDonald's customers who spill hot coffee on themselves deserve millions, will see the disgusting morals of the storyline.
Although the ex-con realizes the idiocy of the plan and bales, the other three stooges with no robbery skills embark on armed robbery. It's so lamebrained (but not in a Sunshine Boys comic kind of way) that it's actually painful to watch. That family-man and ultra Schmiel Patrick would risk his family life for such a dumb heist is preposterous. He is not exactly Jean Valjean. Evidently, we're supposed to root for the other two guys because it gives them something to do and inspires their boy-ish spirits. In the process, they kill an innocent man.
Twirling this twaddle around a noir-ish styled midsection, filmmaker Lucas Belvaux benefits from the luminous and artfully slanted cinematography of Pierre Melon. Riccardo Del Fra's original soundtrack also lays down some smudgy sounds, which are wasted on this bilge.
THE RIGHT OF THE WEAKEST
Diaphana Distribution
Agat Films & Cie and Entre Chien et Loup in co-production with France 3 Cinema, RTBF, Araneo Belgium, Aterliers de Baere
Credits: Screenwriter-director: Lucas Belvaux; Director of photography: Pierre Milon; Production designer: Frederique Belvaux; Costume designer: Nathalie Raoul; Editor: Ludo Troch. Cast. Patrick: Eric Caravaca; Carole: Natacha Regnier; Marc: Lucas Belvaux; Jean-Pierre: Patrick Descamps; Robert: Claude Semal; Steve: Elie Belvaux.
No MPAA rating, running time 116 minutes.
- 5/25/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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