Although an early work - actually only his fifth credited screenplay - this Francis Veber script is only marginally behind his later output and he would, of course, go on to work with Pierre Richard again and again and memorably. Richard here is not quite the complete klutz of Le Chevre but neither is he a candidate for Mensa; he's not unlike those likable goofs Danny Kaye used to play and in fact the premise of an innocent dupe getting mixed up in murder and mayhem is not a million miles from The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty. Richard IS a dope - the title is explained by the fact that his colleagues in the orchestra with which he tours the world nailed his shoes to the floor thus obliging him to wear two different colours to return to Paris - but not SUCH a dope that he can't ball a colleague's wife or have the government agent Christine (Mirielle Darc) speak glowingly of his prowess in the sack after bedding him in the name of duty. I don't know what the French made of their Secret Service being portrayed as childish and largely inept overgrown schoolboys but for non-partisan viewers this is another great French comedy.
