OSS 117: Rio ne repond plus 2009

Mike Hale, New York Times: Mr. Dujardin, a skilled comedian, deftly embodies the spy's combination of cluelessness and condescension, but it's an act that eventually wears thin. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: This is like a subpar Naked Gun feature cooked up by Eisenstein and Godard during a drug-addled lost weekend. Where's Leslie Nielsen when you need him? Read more

Ted Fry, Seattle Times: The tenor, tone and immaculately lampooned art direction often make up for shtick that gradually grows thin in the belly-laugh department. Read more

Tasha Robinson, AV Club: In fitful bursts, Lost In Rio reaches further than its predecessor, delving into a loopy absurdism. Read more

Mark Feeney, Boston Globe: A reasonably pleasant surprise. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Strutting around like a rooster in a thin-lapeled suit, 117 isn't much different from other comic Bond figures, but the movies find a fresh and exceedingly rich vein of comedy in his airy sexism, racism, and colonialism. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: All this is mighty silly, but there's something to be said for watching a French movie that, for a change, isn't about l'amour, existential angst, or madness. Read more

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: Director Michel Hazanavicius loves his sublimely naive bigot, and so do we Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: I don't know that we actually need Agent OSS 117, but the world is a slightly better place with him around. And the film itself is a harmless trifle -- make that truffle, chocolate of course. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: The part is tricky, but Jean Dujardin does it well, greeting every woman with a cocky Jean-Paul Belmondo smile, and every foreign disaster with calm. Thank heavens France is here to help! Read more

V.A. Musetto, New York Post: I don't know about you, but I look to French films for stylish love stories and potent social dramas. I definitely don't look to Gallic movies for slapstick comedy, a genre at which the French are especially bad. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: It's larky, snarky fun. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: I sort of liked the 2006 film, and I sort of like this one, too. I may like it a little more, because Dujardin grows on you. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: A very funny French comedy of a variety that usually doesn't make its way here. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: It's generally friendly and enjoyable, but it sags a bit. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The story is lame and the action is flaccid, but as Hubert would be the first to tell you, the French have a word for those who can't take a joke: c'est la vie. Read more

Wally Hammond, Time Out: It's the grooving to composer Ludovic Bource's fab xylophone beats and Dujardin's hyena laugh and heroic self-regard you'll remember. Read more