Les Compères

In 'Les Compères', filmmaker Francis Veber (writer of 'La Cage aux Folles') ingeniously blends elements of buddy movies, thrillers and teen comedy into an endearing French screwball classic. The comic chemistry of Pierre Richard ('The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe') and Gérard Depardieu ('Camille Claudel', 'Green Card'), introduced in Veber’s 'La Chèvre', here energizes this antic adventure with infectious charisma and sincerity. When her 16-year-old son runs away from their Paris home, Christine (Anny Duperey, 'You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet') sidesteps her stubborn husband and separately convinces two former lovers that they are each the boy’s father. Duped into a sense of responsibility for a son they never knew, brawling newspaperman Lucas (Depardieu) and fragile neurotic Pignon (Richard) follow the boy’s trail to Nice and proceed to pack decades’ worth of dubious parenting into a few manic days battling Riviera bikers, casino racketeers and most often each other. Depardieu and Richard’s expert timing and interplay allows this tender farce to unfold with a breakneck pace that belies the honest sentiment at its heart. 'Les Compères' was remade in Hollywood as 'Fathers’ Day', starring Robin Williams and Billy Crystal.