La Totale! (1991)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1991
	Director: Claude Zidi (Astérix et Obélix contre César)
	Actors: Thierry Lhermitte (Les Bronzés), Miou-Miou (Les Valseuses), Eddy Mitchell (Le bonheur est dans le pré), Michel Boujenah
	Country: F
	Genre: Comedy, Adventure
	Conditions of visioning: 18.08.2014, DVD, 11" computer screen
Synopsis: François (Lhermitte) is a secret agent but his wife (Miou-Miou) and everybody else thinks he is a telecom engineer, until he starts to spy on his own family.
Review: I hadn't seen this classic 90's French comedy in years and I had forgotten a lot of it, but it is pleasant to view such movie once in a while. It is slow to begin and I was starting to get bored but then it takes unexpected turns, and keeps the story alive by not lingering too much on any scene but constantly changing the stakes. I can see what attracted James Cameron to remake it into the Action Comedy True Lies with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis. The classic story of spy hiding his identity and/or using it to learn more on the people he knows has also echoes in other movies like This Means War.  Although playing with the usual French theatrical style that disturbs me, the actors are good, in particular I am always amazed at how Eddy Mitchell reconverted from a Rock'n'Roll singer into an actor.
Rating: 5 /10