You know what this movie could have used, Robert Mitchum!
Written By: Olivier Babinet & Fred Kihn
Directed By: Olivier Babinet & Fred Kihn
Robert Mitchum Est Mort opens with the character of Franky in a robot suit. That was a good opening, it was offbeat, funny, and surreal. Within five seconds of the film starting I was hooked and wanted to see where the surreal and dry comedy would take me for the remaining run time. In the following minutes the film introduced Olivier Gourmet, and I thought, “whoa, this has the potential to be really, really good.” I’m not sure what happened, or rather I’m not sure why it happened, but from about the five minute mark until the very end Robert Mitchum Est Mort is a pointless snooze.
It didn’t help that I didn’t believe anything about Pablo Nicomedes as Franky. Whatever he was trying for, I was not impressed with his acting in this film. Monsieur Nicomedes has a distinctive face, but that was all he had going for him in Robert Mitchum Est Mort. He gives Monsieur Gourmet absolutely nothing to play against, and try as he might Monsieur Gourmet is not able to bring the film to life. I could see Monsieur Gourmet trying to somehow imbue his character with comic wit, but with a vacuous screenplay and no actors around him to work with Monsieur Gourmet was never able to do much with the film. There are a lot of problems with Robert Mitchum Est Mort, but chief among them is the lack of a connection between myself and the lead character, Franky.
Okay, my review is starting to veer all over the place. I’ll try to reign it in by relating that to the film itself. In an effort to create a unique road trip movie Olivier Babinet and Fred Kihn fail to see how pointless their film turns out. There’s no meat on the surface, and there’s nothing deeper in the ground waiting to be dug up. Robert Mitchum Est Mort is a comedy that is only interested in being quirky and off the beaten path. I didn’t find the proceedings all that funny, and the quirk annoyed me more than anything else. That left me looking for other ways to connect with the film, and I simply was not able to connect.
I found Robert Mitchum Est Mort to be a droll, pointless, and unfunny waste of the talents of someone like Olivier Gourmet. I certainly don’t expect the world from a road trip comedy. But, I do expect to at least be given something funny, or something to think about, or actors I can get behind. Robert Mitchum Est Mort didn’t provide me with anything I was looking for and that’s why I was happiest when the film finally came to its whimper of a conclusion.
Rating:
**
Cheers,
Bill
Bill's Movie Emporium 