Director: Ramzy Bedia, Eric Judor
Cast: Ramzy Bedia, Eric Judor, Hafid F. Benamar, Elodie Bouchez, Kristin Scott Thomas

Way back in 1996, a comedy called Getting Away With Murder, starring Dan Aykroyd, Lily Tomlin, and Jack Lemmon was (barely) released to theaters, and the few critics that bothered to look at it gave it a pretty good thrashing (Understandably to me, since I've seen it for myself.) Critics felt that the premise of the movie - a man who finds out that his elderly next-door neighbor was a former Nazi death camp commander, and sets out to murder him - was one that wasn't suitable for a comedy, even one that aimed to be a black comedy. In his review, film critic Roger Ebert pointed out that while any premise has the potential for successful comedy, he pointed out that a comedy that latched on to a touchy or controversial theme, needed two key things: A reason, and also an approach. "A subject is not funny just because we declare it so. The logic of the comedy must supply us with an angle of approach. And when the subject is fraught with emotion, the comedy must supply us with an angle of approach," he wrote. I think that statement really says it well. Elsewhere in the review, Ebert brought up the Mel Brooks movie The Producers, stating that the movie also dealt with Nazis, but managed to make the subject funny. Ebert didn't say in the review how that movie dealt with difficult subject matter, but I think I do. The protagonists of the movie were down and out individuals who were likable, so part of us can sympathize with them despite them betraying their faith and offending many people in order to achieve success. As well, their creation - the stage musical Springtime For Hitler - was depicted as being so absurd and over the top that we in the audience can't take it seriously, and instead laugh at it.

With The Producers in mind, we can see that any subject matter can be made to be funny, even subjects that at first glance can seem to be very touchy and not the least bit fun. In 1974, there was a made for television movie (It Couldn't Happen To A Nicer Guy) that depicted the subject of rape in a manner that's been called funny by a number of people. It seems to be called funny because instead of a woman being raped by a man, the movie switches things up by depicting a man getting raped by a woman, and subsequently the man finds it very hard for people to take him seriously. Maybe someday I will watch it and review it for this website. Anyway, I'd like to talk about another premise that on first glance doesn't seem to be one that would provoke chuckles and laughs. That premise is being the last person alive on the planet, or one of just a few people alive on the planet. Think about it - in real life, being in that situation would be absolutely terrible. Driving everywhere and at the speed you want? Soon gasoline would become stale and unusable. Electricity would quickly stop whether from hydro or nuclear power, so after a while when using gasoline-powered generators, you can forget about sitting back and watching movie after movie. Or for that matter, getting enough light in dark places where sunshine is not readily available; batteries don't last forever. What if you have a health emergency like your appendix about to burst? It's unlikely that even if you're with a few other people, there would be the medical care that you need. Unless you are willing to put in the effort to create vegetable and fruit gardens, you'll be eating a dreary diet out of cans for ages. And if there are just you and a few other people, inbreeding would inevitably happen. Oh, the inbreeding...

As you can see, being the last person (or one of the last people) on Earth would suck major time, and not be that much fun. Though the reality of the situation would clearly be dismal, so much so that "last man/people on Earth" stories tend to be quite grim, it is possible to see the situation in a comic light. Several years ago, there was an American television show called The Last Man On Earth that had the premise of humanity being wiped out except for a few people. It was a comic take on the premise that worked (at least for me) because it did a few key things. First, a lot of focus was on the characters who were flawed enough to show weaknesses that we in the audience could relate to, and find amusing. The second thing was that the show did take the time to show some of the hardships that would inevitably come up in a real-life situation as this, and this acknowledgement made the show feel more honest and palatable. With this show still in the back of my mind (pity it was cancelled before it got to a definite conclusion), I was open to other comic looks at being one of the last people on the planet when I came across the French film 2 Alone In Paris. The advertised angle of the movie approaching the premise intrigued me. Here it is: In modern-day Paris, there is a cop named Gervais (Eric Judor, Don't Die Too Hard!) who has a lot on his mind, such as the fact of his approaching wedding with his sweetheart Juliette (Elodie Bouchez, CQ). But what he's really obsessed with is a fellow by the name of Curtis (Ramzy Bedia, Don't Die Too Hard!), a petty criminal that for years he has been trying to catch and bring into custody, but for various reasons, like his occasional ineptness, he hasn't been able to do, in part because Curtis is helped by friendly bookstore owner (Kristin Scott Thomas, Tell No One) who knows the criminal side of Paris, including that gangsters are also after Curtis. On the day before his wedding, Gervais manages to spot Curtis, and a chase ensues. But during the chase, something strange happens, that being that the entire population of Paris suddenly... disappears. Gervais quickly tries to find someone in Paris or anywhere in the world, but fails completely... until he eventually bumps into Curtis, who too is stuck in this otherwise peopleless world. After an lengthy awkward period of coming to terms with this situation, both men reluctantly decide to stay and work together, and try to find an answer and a solution to their situation. Which may be harder than they think, because occasionally they find themselves back in the "real" world, where they desperately try to deal with their "real world" challenges before abruptly returning to their lonely predicament.

One other reason I wanted to watch 2 Alone In Paris was not only promising to be a comic take of last-in-the-worldness, but the fact that the stars of the movie were Eric Judor and Ramzy Bedia. Years ago I reviewed their movie Don't Die Too Hard!, and while I thought that the movie as a whole didn't work, I thought that the duo were funny and charming enough that I was interested in seeing them in another (and hopefully better) movie. Like the earlier movie, the two had a hand in writing the script, but this time they were also acting as the directors. I'll get into their script and direction later, but first I want to talk about if they are appealing as they were in their other movie. The answer to that is, "Oui!", even though they are each playing quite different kinds of characters. Although they play their characters to have stupid sides, they are not total idiots like in Don't Die Too Hard! As the ever-elusive criminal Curtis, Bedia gives his character a very confident swagger throughout, and loves the opportunity to turn tables on Gervais and his other pursuers and get a laugh out of their expenses. All this could have made him come across as arrogant and someone you want to get his just desserts, but Bedia always finds a way to make his brash behavior palatable, and quite often funny. You can't help but like him despite making much trouble. Judor, playing authority figure Gervais, makes his character just as likable despite his determination to catch and lock up the lovable Curtis. We see he's struggling to get respect from his police co-workers as well as cement his relationship with his fiancée despite her often being exasperated by his sometimes ineptness and thoughtlessness. You sense that he really does want to do good, and you sense his good heart while he is verbally or physically struggling. Judor shows his character isn't perfect, but will never give up. How can we not like such a person, and not laugh with sympathy as he keeps screwing up?

As you can probably imagine, when both the character of Gervais and Curtis are paired up in a scene, the sparks really fly, not just with each's determination to succeed in their personal agendas, but also generating a good number of laughs. The chemistry between the two is fantastic. Their non-stop verbal banter shows each is trying to trump over the other as much as possible, but the key that really makes it work is that it feels very natural and realistic, and that makes it funnier because you can always relate to it at some angle. Once great scene has Curtis imprisoned while Gervais desperately needs his help to inject some medicine, and both men's desperateness to get what they want (freedom or medicine) bring solid laughs. But even in the quieter moments when both characters are paired up, such as when they decide to have a picnic together in their lonely world, you still sense that both men need each other in some way and are both trying to connect despite their differences. That's funny as well, in part because we can relate to both their loneliness and their senses of pride. However, the humor in 2 Alone In Paris isn't just reserved to the friction between the two characters. The two men individually, as well as some secondary characters, also perform various gags in a way that is often amusing. Curtis' indulgences in the empty world provide some great visual gags, and there are various throwaway gags that inject some extra laughs as well. However, inevitably because of coming from a culture with many differences to mine, there were some gags that I didn't quite get, like what Curtis was trying to do with the blowgun in two scenes. Plus, there was one attempt at humor in a scene with Gervais with a young Asian boy (questioning the boy's eyes) that was essentially racist. (Don't Die Too Hard! also had some questionable humor regarding Asians, which makes one wonder about Bedia and Judor's attitude towards Asians in real life.)

There are also some gags that seem surprisingly unfinished, such as when Curtis jumps off a tall building and lands on the ground unhurt, and the movie doesn't really answer or question this. The screenplay doesn't just seem incomplete with those particular gags, but also with its story threads. While Gervais may be struggling with the preparation for his upcoming marriage, we only meet his fiancée Juliette once before Gervais and Curtis find themselves alone, and she doesn't appear again for a very long time. Kind of hard to feel anything about this romantic relationship when we've hardly seen anything romantic. The subplot regarding the gangsters searching for Curtis isn't fleshed out enough, there are various turns in the plot that seem to be going somewhere but then suddenly they are momentarily put aside, and at the end of the movie, a subplot about missing paintings kind of seems up in the air without a proper conclusion. Also, the last fifteen or so minutes at times feel like random scenes edited together. It seems strange that Judor and Bedia, along with two other screenwriters (and a credited "gagman") couldn't smooth up the narrative enough. But I will say that the two men's direction of the movie is otherwise successful. While the narrative may be garbled at times, there are some pretty exciting action set pieces such as the ATM robbery, as well as various foot chases. Also, much credit must go to them for their depiction of a Paris only inhabited by two men; there were some shots where I couldn't figure out how they emptied the city except for their two characters while having a budget much less than a Hollywood blockbuster. And in the movie's main attempt - to be funny - they are more successful than they are unsuccessful. 2 Alone In Paris is well worth a look... that is if you can find it, since at least in North America as of this review's publication date, it hasn't been given a release on DVD or Blu-ray. And it has long left North American streaming services. If you're North American, you may have to search for a way to watch this movie as hard as Gervais in the movie searches for Curtis.

(Posted July 28, 2023)