A Pain in the Ass

The hitman Ralf is to shoot a witness entering the courthouse opposite from a hotel room. In the next room Pignon, a shirt salesman whose wife has left him, is attempting suicide. To do his job the killer has to keep the man alive, and cannot get rid of him all day. Edouard Molinaro directed, from Francis Veber's play and screenplay. Lino Ventura plays Ralf, the singer Jacques Brel plays Pignon. The whole machine runs on one idea: a professional trapped in the same corridor as a well-meaning idiot. Every attempt to help makes things worse. Brel's performance is the surprise; a man known as a singer carries the comic timing. The story has been refilmed repeatedly. Billy Wilder adapted it in 1981 as Buddy Buddy with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, and Veber returned to his own text in 2008. It runs seventy-five minutes and never stops anywhere. Who it is for: viewers who like French comedy and tight scripts built on a single idea. Who it is not for: anyone wanting subtlety; the humour is broad and repetitive by design.