Gramps Is in the Resistance

A stellar cast. A French comedy that actually makes you laugh. Politically incorrect. Could it be better?

Yes, definitely yes. I felt since the beginning that this film was made by either a deranged mind or by a film student. The plot is erratic at best, it needs some heavy "editing". It'd never survived a "studio", for good and bad reasons. It's an original take on the French "resistance", although following all the clichés (the dumb Germans/ "Boches") follow 2 stereotypes: a) cultivated, full of mannerisms (a good Roland Giraud) and b) fat ugly dumb characters (Jacques Villeret, who has acted like God on "Diner des cons" and "Les Enfants du Marais") (Gérard Jugnot, who did well in a small role at "Bronzés 3"). The prejudices on gays and foreigners, like Ramírez (let alone Germans, but that's natural given the "genre").

What really puzzled me was the last "act". Very "Theatre in theatre", I think that, hadn't it been there, the audience would have appreciated. But playing mind games, acting well and pretending to be witty must have allured them to make one take too many.

A film with Brialy and Balasko in very secondary roles has to be perfect or it's a failure. This is not exactly perfect... Michel Blanc (!), a dazzling Dominique Lavanant (Soeur Therese)... there's not one actor who cannot star a good film.

Lhermitte as a Nazi is funny if peculiar, Yanne as a collaborationist is just one of the sour role we know he does so well.

Jacques Villeret did the scene I liked most, his musical "numero" of Von Apfelstrudel (!)'s feelings. Perfect (and very funny!). Look at the "coreography" with Nazi soldiers moving like starlets :).

I'm glad I saw this film, I think it's rather "corageous" in some of its aesthetic decisions, but wouldn't recommend it without knowing the audience's tastes!

It is never as good as "La grande vadrouille". Some scenes are funny, others just too dumb. Why do German officers talk in French (with a wrong German accent) among them ? They have an impressive cast, but that's pretty much all this French comedy about the German invasion has to offer.

This was one of the best comedy i saw in France. The plot itself is not really new but the development is quite funny. "Super Résistant" is the new Batman and the end of the movie, which is about a very well known show in France (Les Dossiers de l'Ecran) was funny enough to let most of the people who saw the film for the first time on TV really amazed. The German accent, be it real or not, is just for the fun, playing with words and giving lot of crucial sentences to remember to joke on german among friends. In any way, this movie is not to be compared with "La Grande Vadrouille" unless you want to compare movies together only because they are based in same timeline.

With a cast of now extremely famous actors (in France), and outrageous humor, this movie is a huge classic in French cinema, one of these movies that is shown on French television at least once a year.

Americans or people of other nationality, might simply not "get" it though. Its typical French humor. I, as a Frenchman, find some American movies like Napoleon Dynamite or Adam Sandler films to be not funny at all (as would most Frenchmen, which is probably why they're not exported here at a large scale), although they are apparently successful in the US. It may be the same for this movie. I'd say its a movie made for a French audience, and very few non-French people would find it that good.

This is essentially a gross satire of the German occupation, a very delicate period in our history. A movie like this couldn't be made in our too politically correct times. The most hilarious and classic scenes are towards the end of the movie, with the hilarious Jacques Villeret playing "Hitler's brother". This is to me one of the funniest movies I've seen, and I would definitely recommend this to everyone, but non-French be warned; it is clearly Franco-French humor!

The French haven't made a lot of funny movies about the dark period of the Nazi occupation of France. "La Grande Vadrouille" "untranslatable", more recently "Bon Voyage" "Pleasant Journey" and "Papy fait de la Resistance" "Grand daddy is a freedom fighter". This movie was made with the cast of the "Splendid", same cast which was used also to realize "Le Pere Noel est une Ordure" "Santa Claus is a Bastard". If you have seen "Santa Claus..." you are certainly already smiling thinking about how funny must be "Papy....". I was born and raised in France and my parents lived their youth during the occupation of France. They laugh even more than I did when they saw that movie. It is funny, sarcastic, irrelevancies for the French and the German. It is a gigantic joke that turned a sad part of French history into something really funny, laughable, and relaxing. Only the French can make fun of themselves in a laughable way, because they know what they are laughing about. The film is constantly making reference to little details that only the French could know. So if you don't know the French culture or history of France and are planning to see that movie, you will certainly enjoy it but will be missing half of it's content. If you know the French culture and French history, you are up for rolling and twisting on the floor laughing your a... off. A great moment of French Cinematography!...