Ever want to attend a dinner party simply to humiliate the guests right in front of them? That is the premise of Le dîner de cons, a comedy from Francis Veber.Thierry Lhermitte plays Pierre, the owner of the apartment in which this party is to take place. Here, he invites François (Jacques Villeret), who is not aware of Pierre's true intentions of the dinner. After a last minute cancellation, Pierre finds himself alone with François and tries to hide the secret that -- for lack of a better word -- he thinks François is an idiot and he was the main attraction for the party.Jacques Villeret is an absolute joy to watch in every single scene. He makes it look easy ranging from slapstick to complete absurdity. Villeret definitely deserved the César he received in 1999. You want more of him every time he's not on screen.Taking place mostly in one apartment, Veber's direction doesn't make it feel like you're watching a filmed play. It feels cinematic. While it's not a laugh a minute, it's without a doubt, a fun, enjoyable ride and Veber knows how to make it work.Having seen the remake in 2010 as "Dinner For Schmucks", Le dîner de cons is simply better in every aspect from writing to acting.The quick pacing and short length makes it enticing for another viewing. Even by the end there is a little moment of disappointment that the film is already over.9/10

When I saw the face of Steve Carrel in "The Dinner of Schmucks" remake, I knew they got the meaning of the word totally wrong, 'cons' is not about being retarded or eccentric, it's a state of mind, something that doesn't strike the eyes, not at first sight anyway."Con" is a generic insult in France that takes a lot of meanings, it either refers to a dumb or extremely naive person, a socially awkward geek, a dork, someone so blinded by a passion that he can't realize how ridicule he is in the eyes of common people, stupid is not the most faithful synonym, because a 'con' can have a high I.Q, but what do they all have in common, they don't have the intelligence of the situation, and are the target of mean-spirited people who use them as foils to appear smarter, and that they can easily be fooled allows society to label them as 'idiots'. This is sad but true, and Veber's "Diner de Cons" aka "The Dinner Game" builds its plot on a cruel purpose with mean spirited snobs inviting idiots to elect a winner at the end of the evening, and Thierry Lhermitte aka Pierre Brochant, a wealthy publisher, is one of these bad guys.There is a French word to describe a man like Brochant, a 'salaud', a bastard if you prefer, a guy eager to make fun of less smart people, while the so-called Dinner Game can be seen as a tacit bullying, all these dumb-chasers would argue that they don't harm anyone because the purpose of the game is not to let the idiots know why they were invited. It's like 'a crime without victims'. And the players really take their hateful game seriously, each participant having a sort of scout to find the right idiot, either a colleague eager to express some 'new' ideas, a man with strange hobbies, finding a good idiot is not that an easy task. And one day, Brochant receives a phone call from a friend who found a 'world champion': Jacques Villeret as François Pignon, a civil servant working in the Minister of Treasury and building replicas of landmarks with matchsticks, what a promising pedigree! Many people tend to minimize the emphasis on the word 'con' by arguing that we're all the idiots of someone. While it might be true, it doesn't appear to be the message of the film where the personality traits are clearly defined. While not a plain idiot, Pignon is a sweet and lovable buffoon and despite his meanness, Pierre Brochant strikes as a brilliant and intelligent person. The film doesn't try to reverse roles to demonstrate the former idea, and the lyrics of the opening song brilliantly deliver the message that age has nothing to do with brains, when we're an idiot; we're an idiot, period. The genius little song from George Brassens foreshadows the inevitability of the mayhem caused by François Pignon, directly affecting Pierre Brochant's life. And it all starts with the nice twist (indeed) when Brochant hurts his back while golfing and is forced to cancel his participation. After discovering how brilliantly dumb François Pignon is, he decides to go anyway, much to the reluctance of his wife, who therefore leaves him.The movie takes off when Brochant is left alone, incapable to move and with Pignon trying to help him, to see where his wife have gone. And as soon as the movie starts (the set-up took a little time, but for the best) the film features a succession of never-ending misunderstandings, gaffes, and remarkable displays of clumsiness that elevate "The Dinner Game" to a masterpiece level in the comedy of errors genre. Surprisingly, the film is mostly set in Brochant's luxurious apartment, conveying a sort of trapped sensation. The film is adapted from a play written by Francis Veber and the unity of time, space and plot contributes to a coherent plot getting crescendo, each disaster provoked by Pignon leading to a bigger disaster when he tries to make up for the first. In the progress, other characters make their entrance, Brochant's ex-friend played by a brilliant Francis Huster, Just Leblanc (whose name will create one of the most hilarious cases of misunderstanding in French cinema) not to mention the scene-stealing performance of Daniel Prevost as François's friend, a hard-nosed tax inspector. Alexandra Van Der Noot and Catherine Frot also deserve accolades for the two female parts that will get mixed up by the poor Mr. Pignon.The casting, while minimalist, is enough to conduct the movie with laughs and laughs, creating one of the greatest and most unanimously praised French comedies and Veber's true masterpiece. Indeed, Veber's comedies often relied on the simple but efficient buddy duo, with the white-faced clown and the Auguste, when the laughs mostly came from the reactions of the straight guy rather than the actions of the funny one, but this time, there's also a cynical yet delightful pleasure from seeing the Lhermitte character so tormented. His nightmarish journey seems deserved, and it would take a lot of pains to feel sorry for him because his wife left him, after all, she left him because he wanted to play a humiliating game. Not a villain or an antagonist, he's still a hardly redeemable character, and all the laughs are mixed with the satisfaction to see him get through this pain. As he'd say to Pignon, he avenged in one night all the idiots who ever participated to dinner games before, and he couldn't be truer.But as usual, Veber films don't take their 'seriousness' with seriousness, when we know where the film is going to, we're immediately surprised by a twist that gets the final spice, a masterpiece of wit, sophistication, laughs and cynicism, leading to one major conclusion : never take one's personality for granted. Indeed, just because someone looks and sounds like an idiot doesn't mean that he is not one.

Amazing! This word describes perfectly the simplicity and the incredible sense of humour of this movie! The plot is really too straight to follow, as it is very simple: Pierre and his friends do, once a week, a "special dinner" to make fun of stupid guys they meet, and their absurd stories. They call it "idiot's dinner". For them it's like a championship where they try to find the dumbest guy on earth! But this time Pierre can't go to the dinner, because he hurt himself when he was playing golf, so he must stays in his own home. However, he had already invited Mr Pignon (the dumb guy) to the dinner and when Mr Pignon arrived, Pierre's nightmare will begin! This movie is really funny because it transforms little common circumstances into hilarious sequences! For example, a simple phone call is turned into a hilarious scene! I mean, I cried of laughing when I was watching this movie! There are four/five scenes that are really funny and simple at the same time. It proves that is not needed a large budget to make a great film. In fact, this movie even seems to be adapted from a theatrical play. I don't know if it is or not, but it seems so, because of the simplicity of its setting (almost all the film is shot inside Pierre's apartment).About the acting: It's done a very good work, especially by Jacques Villeret, the actor which plays Mr Pignon's character. He's really impressive as a dumb! He's truly a world champion! It's not the first time I watched this movie, I had already seen it some years ago when it was released in theatres; but today, when I watched it on DVD, I laughed as much as I was seeing it for the very first time!

THE DINNER GAME (Francis Veber - France 1998).It's always a joy to see an old-fashioned but very funny farce. Pierre Brochant is a smug Parisian riche who has the habit of playing a game with his wealthy upper-class friends to see who can bring the biggest idiot to a dinner party. When an acquaintance has found him a candidate, monsieur François Pignon - the biggest idiot of all time - he gets more than he bargained for when Pignon unwittingly bulldozes through Pierre's life and everything comes crashing down upon him.This French comedy by Francis Veber, a huge hit in France, was based on his own 1992 stage play. It's a bit in the old screwball mode of classic Hollywood, think DINNER AT EIGHT (1932), with some echos of Neil Simon and Billy Wilder. If you like those, you will no doubt have a good time watching this comic farce. But as far as comedies of errors are concerned, the French have a long tradition of their own.Apart from a few outdoor scenes in the beginning, the film is set entirely in one Parisian living room with just a few actors. It's nothing more than a filmed play, quite static, but the cast consists exclusively of comedy pros. Thierry Lhermitte as the wealthy Parisian snob and Jacques Villeret as the grand idiot, form a wonderful team. Now, I'm gonna find me an idiot.Camera Obscura --- 8/10