The Car Keys (2003)

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

I think it is a "cult" movie! But his theater distribution was awful and it was never released on TV! So who cares? And you have to understand french culture references and appreciate the "Baffie 's sense of humor" in contradictions, no-senses, etc. If you want to see this movie like another "french comedy", you will be disappointed. It 's because this movie is so different of the others, Baffie broke all the movie codes and it is why it is so funny! (talking to the camera, false background projections, image in black&White because of lack of budget!) I think this movie should be compared to ZAZ movies like Air Plane, Top Secret and so one.

This movie is extremely underrated, even in France. The movie could be seen as a very witty and enjoyable essay on cinema as a grammar, with its hidden or unspoken but so tyrannical rules, as any other grammar. It surely will seem awful or to heavily didactic (in a "grammar of films for dummies" way) anyway to any non-native french speaker, unaware of the disarming subtlety of french ingenuous humor, especially the one Baffie practices. Its slogan on the poster as published in France was : "N'y allez pas, c'est une merde!", literally translated : "Don't go see it, it's crap!"... This sufficiently proves how Baffie likes to mock himself, but also the critics (especially the french ones), who do not hesitate to frequently utter not so different flat negative statements about movies, especially when it comes to french comedies...

In France, people tend not to understand absurd humour. The Francis Veber vaudeville type of comedy and vulgar, obnoxious stuff such as "Les Bronzés" are what they like best. No wonder the critics slagged off movies such as "Les Clefs de Bagnole" or "RRRrrrr !". They don't even understand what can be funny about these films. However, if you're into Monty Python humour, or the wackiness of Steven Soderbergh's Schizopolis, chances are you will definitely elevate "Les Clefs de Bagnole" to the rank of a cult classic. I found this to be highly refreshing as well as a great satire of film-making and the movie business. Highly recommended to all open-minded people worldwide !

I can't say I wasn't warned: Everybody and his Uncle Max told me not to waste time on this merde but I wouldn't be told, the lure of a dozen or so French actors playing cameos proved too strong. At a stretch and inasmuch as what passes for a plot involves writer-director-actor Laurent Baffie looking for his car keys this tends to qualify as a 'quest' film but it's light years removed from the quest for the Grail, Flight, Meaning Of Life etc. Most of the cameos come up front and take the form of rejections - polite or otherwise - of Baffie's pitch but Gerard Depardieu and Alain Chabat appear in the main body of the film though both to no great effect. Chabat has the slightly longer part as a pet shop proprietor who sells Baffie a dog specially trained to locate missing car keys and that's the highlight. I used to think that it was impossible to sink lower than Ali G or the Carry On series but it is, it is.