Le cactus (2005) Reviews

• Bombay Duck

  writers_reign2005-12-29

  It's strange to see Clovis Cornillac in a selection of suits and ties, living in an ultra modern and pristine apartment and enjoying a lifestyle that includes a classy girlfriend, Alice Taglioni, and allows him to take expensive vacations seemingly at will. He's also saddled with a friend, Pascal Elbe, who has made hypochondria into an art form and, in one of the most tired devices known to hack writers, overhears a doctor talking about the cactus plant in his office and assumes the doctor is discussing him. Elbe is an expressive actor and had a hand in writing Pere et Fils, a vehicle for Philippe Noiret which also featured Charles Berling but Jean-Pierre Darroussin is completely wasted though Pierre Richard fares better as a sort of Maharishi left over from the sixties with few gullible Mia Farrows and/or Beatles left to con. The Writer-Director team of Gerard Bitton and Michel Munz are responsible for this which, sadly, fails to live up to their last movie, Ah! Si j'etais riche, despite some lush location work in India and a couple of half-decent visual jokes.