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Le Dîner de Cons (The Dinner Game)

"I don't have an idiot yet! I'm panicked!"

Francis Veber had written plays, TV shows, and films. He had also directed plenty of well by the time he decided to adapt his hit play “Le Dîner de Cons” for the big screen. Luckily, his brand of farcical humor worked brilliantly with the film version, and it became a huge hit in his home country of France. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we continue our Francis Veber & His Remakes series with his 1998 film Le Dîner de Cons.

We talk about why the farcical humor in this film works so well for us. We look at the brilliant performance of Jacques Villeret as Pignon and why he works so well in the role. We chat about the trick of translating this title to English and how some of the comedy itself doesn’t really translate. We look at the other performances in the film and why they work so well We touch on the look and music and how well they serve the story. And we chat about the film’s success and why it likely was a hard one to translate to English.

We had a blast with this film and have a great time talking about it. Check it out then tune in to this week’s episode! The Next Reel – when the movie ends, our conversation begins.

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When the movie ends, our conversation begins. We love movies. We’ve been talking about them, one movie a week, since 2011. It’s a lot of movies, that’s true, but we’re passionate about origins and performance, directors and actors, themes and genres, and so much more. So join the community and let’s hear about your favorite movies, too.
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