Young, Beautiful and Screwed Up (2003)

You won't be disappointed!

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

I enjoyed this French teenage flick thoroughly. I saw it in Aspen during the comedy festival alongside 30 people who laughed their heads off. The humor is witty and travels well. There is a fair deal of gross out humor but not too much. It's not the point. The movie is of a higher quality than usual teenage flicks although it definitely belongs to the genre. I recognized some actors from Amelie and Jean-Pierre Jeunet films. The film's fast paced, colorful, the soundtrack is outstanding with some major A list US artists. Nice South of France locations and caricatures of the French. The audience at the end of the screening was thrilled, smiling and excited. We just wished it did not end!

This a very baroque teenage comedy, with more ambition that the genre usually allows. I guess it should appeal to people between 15 and 35 years old, because it includes details than someone who's grown up in the 80's would catch too. The spirit is neo-punk, fast and provocative, extreme, in the picture and in the music too, which mixes a classical score with pop punk and reggae. The camera is all over the place, the set ups and the camera angles are varied which creates a feeling of energy and pace; the scenes end before you get the chance to ever get bored. If you don't particularly like one character, he's gone before you can realise you don't like him. The story is a classical fish out of water story in which two boys from the countryside chase an aggressive Parisian and his girlfriend in Paris to make them pay for the damage they have done in their village when they stopped by accidentally while on holidays. And of course one of the boys seduces the girl. But more than anything they really shake the bourgeois Parisian world with their naive stubbornly happy energy, although everybody works hard to put them down, humiliate and crush them, with the notable exception of several black teenagers who help them out and to whom they owe their survival. Locations are beautiful in the countryside and in Paris. Actors are outstanding, especially the young hairdresser, re-mindful of a young Jim Carrey. A milestone in the history of teenage comedy, not to be missed under any circumstances. Pure entertainment for open minded humour and rock music freaks.

The beginning of the movie is quite something. Maurice solves the libido problems of a depressed donkey so that it befriends a mare and agrees to make a mule. A few minutes later Maurice's friend, the wacky hairdresser, borrows the wheelchair of a crippled French legion veteran and forgets to give it back to the muscular tattooed retired soldier. A charitable woman picks the soldier up from the pavement where he was left waiting in the sun in her shopping trolley. The legionnaire borrows a skateboard from a kid and drives it through traffic to get his wheel chair back. He's kicked backwards on a steep slope and ends up flying through the air until he lands in a church. The visual effects are good. I found some serious black humour and enjoyed the satirical portrait of French traditional society reminiscent of some Italian comedies of the 60s although shot in a very modern way. Then the movie takes another turn, showing the attitude of French youth towards sex, race and drugs, through a series of often funny and sometimes sexy scenes. 8/10 for the highly entertaining content.

At first I thought another attempt by the French to make a teenage comedy, a genre at which they are not very good. This story of young guys from the countryside who team up with street kids of African origin to avenge the misconducts of a young racist Parisian is a good surprise. It has some unforgettable hilarious scenes. The story is fast and has some provocative and unpredictable twists, including a powerful love tale. Formally the movie is fast paced with many set ups and cuts. The art direction is good, the stunts are OK with some brilliant physical comedy. The photography is sometimes stunning in the countryside, sometimes dull in the city. Once the movie starts, I found myself wondering what on earth is this, and then I got caught in the story. I laughed a lot alongside the few spectators in the theater, some of them seemed to be real hardcore fans of the movie. It has a style of its own, a bit unsettling at times, certainly unseen before. It's never boring, as some French movies can be. The movie benefits from a good score and excellent songs, lots of punk rock and reggae. So all in all it has a French Guy Ritchie's movie flair, with more love, more passion and less cynicism. Some young actors are stunning, the young Jim Carrey-like hairdresser who trips on too much ecstasy, the young fascist villain, the black roommate who loves grass, and the young and heartbroken Parisian girl are great. Among the vast number of guest stars look out for Richard Bohringer, I have not seen him that good for a long time. I also think it is Ticky Holgado's last movie.