La Classe Américaine - Le Grand Détournement (1993)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1993
	Director: Michel Hazanavicius, Dominique Mézerette
	Actors (voices): Lionel Abelanski, Jean-Eric Bielle, Marc Cassot
	Country: F
	Genre: Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: 25.04.2019, VOD, 42" TV screen.
Synopsis: The most classy man on Earth George Abitebol dies uttering the words "Monde de merde" (Shitty World). The journalists Dave, Peter and Steven investigate on the meaning of those last words.
Review: THAT is an unusual movie. Before you wonder about the synopsis, you have to know that the whole movie is an authorized montage (thus "détournement") of many Warner Bros classic movies featuring famous actors like John Wayne, Dustin Hoffman, John Fonda, Robert Redford, Paul Newman and many others. Moreover, the montage is dubbed in French by the official voice artists for those actors, and movie makers have written dialogs that stick well to the lips of the American actors when they speak, for a most disturbing and efficient effect. Finally the story, loosely copied from the one of Citizen Kane as remarks Orson Welles in an apparition, is deliciously twisted and non-sensique. So it really is a French thing (even the name of most characters are very French and the locations like Tegzas pronounced a-la-French) but I know that hardcore foreign fans have developed at least English sub-titles, and wondered on forums how to translate "Ce flim n'est pas un flim sur le cyclimse". Good luck with that. For everything you want to know about the movie like which extracts were used, check out this website: http://cyclim.se. I have seen several of the movies from which the scenes are extracted: All the President's Men, Around the World in Eighty Days, Bullitt, Cleopatra Jones, Deliverance, Mad Max, Rio Bravo, The Searchers, The Towering Inferno and even the improbable The Valley of Gwangi with its cowboys against dinosaurs. And I would love to see others like Harper (1966) with Paul Newman and Lauren Bacall. The succession of all those sequences is fantastic and very well-thought for the most comedic effect while keeping a semblance of continuity. I hadn't seen La Classe Américaine is years and I enjoyed a lot watching it again with friends. I remembered that the pace and density of funny ideas was slowing down towards the end but it is not the case at all, except for maybe a 10-min break of lesser quality around the 2/3. Beyond the obvious laughs at jokes like Peter (Hoffman) running to go to the bathroom and the such, I find that coming up with even just the concept for this artwork shows from its makers a profound respect for Cinema and reflection on its place in pop culture, in particular the French one. You can also watch the other movies in the Grand Détournement trilogy: Ça détourne and Derrick contre Superman.
Rating: 8 /10