- When French masterspy OSS 117, aka Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath (Jean Dujardin), first appeared in OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies, the result was a surprisingly humorous parody of a genre that I had previously considered too silly to be lampooned. Unfortunately, his second outing, OSS 117: Lost in Rio, is decidedly less original, less fun, and much, much less funny. Instead of Soviets in Egypt, it's Nazis in Brazil. Rather than insult the Muslims this time around, OSS 117 now goes to great length to insult the Jews. Don't worry, women are treated equally badly in both films. There are some hippies, a Nazi costume party, and gratuitous Hitchcock references, but somehow the entire adventure comes across as a stale joke, badly delivered.
- It's challenging to identify precisely why this film is so much less endearing than its predecessor. I don't think the problem is solely a lack of originality. After all, the real James Bond series is probably the most self-plagiarizing movie series ever, and they're on the 23rd film and going strong. Part of the problem here is surely that Dujardin's co-stars, Louise Monot, Rüdiger Vogler, Reem Kherici, and Alex Lutz, are not nearly as charismatic as Dujardin or his previous co-star, Bérénice Bejo. The jokes also come across as more hurtful and mean than in the first film, although Dujardin's winning smile permits him to say almost anything. Regardless, the only funny moments I intend to remember from this film are when OSS 117 asks the German Embassy for a list of Nazis living in Brazil (hilarious!) and when the film simultaneously references North by Northwest's music, Saboteur's settings, and Vertigo's vertigo. I guess I can take considerable consolation from the fact that director Michel Hazanavicius' next film would be The Artist, a film so good that its worst part was a Hitchcock reference.
