OSS 117: Cairo -- Nest of Spies constitutes the eighth installment in a long-running series of movies about OSS 117 (the government code name for Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath) -- a French super-spy and European equivalent of James Bond. The creation of author Jean Bruce, OSS eventually starred in over 265 novels and seven cinematizations through 1970. The first seven film outings were sober and straight-faced; the eighth go-round (the first after a 38-year lapse) does a 180 to shamelessly poke
fun of the rules established by the genre. A glib yet intelligent spoof, it joins the ranks of Our Man Flint (1965), Aghaye Hallou (1970), Mad Mission 3: Our Man from Bond Street (1984), and other international pictures that glibly satirize the subgenre made infamous to Americans by Bond; like Mad Mission 3, it even packs in an OSS 117 (Jean Dujardin) with a startling resemblance to Sean Connery. The film's comic conceit involves making OSS 117 arrogant, conceited, culturally insensitive, chauvinistic, and thoroughly moronic (he pretends that various cultural institutions and religious practices, for instance, are nonexistent if he is unfamiliar with them); yet the character somehow manages to slide through outrageously dangerous situations unscathed, time and again. The teaser prologue finds OSS 117 in Berlin, where he outwits the Nazis by stealing vital documents from them, hijacks an Axis plane in mid-nosedive, and saves himself and the craft at the last yawning moment. Ten years later, he journeys from Rome to Cairo, where he investigates the death of a fellow agent, posing as the proprietor of a chicken farm. His "side" activities during this jaunt involve hammering out a peace arrangement for the Middle East, keeping tabs on the Suez Canal, and monitoring the Russians. Jean-François Halin scripted the film, maintaining an utterly deadpan tone throughout; Michel Hazanavicius directed. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
This French comedy fondly lampoons both the popular French spy movies adapted from Jean Bruce's novels in the 1950s and '60s and the colonialist era they were set in.
I have never been a particular admirer of either James Bond or Austin Powers, and could hardly be expected to be overjoyed by a 'cross between them.' Hence, I was hardly surprised when I didn't crack a smile over the antics of Mr. Jean Dujardin.
The French-made movie travels familiar ground, with a nod as well to Airplane!, Top Secret and that whole genre. Even compared to them, it pushes things just a little -- not too far, but toward the loony.
Notwithstanding a willing central performance from Dujardin, the film simply lacks the comedic savoir-faire to leave us shaken, stirred or even reasonably amused.
In a week of overblown, unappetising or disappointing films, this makes a refreshing change. And how interesting to be offered a French movie that doesn't come straight from the "arthouse" stable.
The amusingly cumbersomely titled OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies is about ten minutes too long for a great plot to gag ratio, but there are enough smart chuckles here to make the promised sequel worth looking forward to.
Despite a number of hilarious set-pieces, the stupidity never spoils the intrigue and by playing the pastiche game better than Austin Powers, this is an unexpected pleasure.
Beautifully made, superbly written and frequently hilarious comedy that plays like a French version of Get Smart (the original series), with a terrific comic performance from Jean Dujardin.
Leave it to the French to beat us at our own bizarrely self-reflexive comic shenanigans. OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies is a model of smart, often very silly, but never, ever stupid comic perfection.
A clever, witty spoof on spy movies that perfectly recreates the looks of the Cinema in the late '50s, mainly the special effects. Dujardin is hilarious as the stupid, condescending French spy of the title, in a film that smartly plays with the conventions of the genre.
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