STUDIO: Music Box Films
RELEASE DATE: June 27, 2008
STARRING: Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, Aure Atika, Philippe Lefebvre, Constantin Alexandrov, Said Amadis, and Laurent Bateau
WRITTEN BY: Jean-Francois Halin and Michel Hazanavicius
DIRECTED BY: Michel Hazanavicius
GENRE: Foreign/Comedy
RATING: N/R

The love child of Austin Powers and Catherine Deneuve has found his way to the big screen in the bizarre yet kind of riveting OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies, a film that's technically part of a franchise that's older than the infamous 007 himself. On the French side of the same family tree as Mr. Powers, Maxwell Smart, Inspector Gadget. and Frank Drebin lies Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, alias OSS 117. Played by the super-suave Jean Dujardin, OSS isn't quite as bumbling as his cinematic peers and he definitely gets the job done with a little less collateral damage. But Dujardin is also far from the first to tackle OSS. Based on a series of books by Jean Bruce, Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath came to the big screen in a series of films in the '50s and '60s. Why not bring the swinging style back? The world could certainly use a spy like OSS 117. Not as much an homage to the spy movies of yesteryear as a time machine that gives audiences a new one with a comedic edge, Cairo, Nest of Spies is both completely original and old-fashioned. Imagine if they had stopped making Bond movies in 1970 and then made a comedy version four decades later. It's just fun. OSS 117 may be far from a laugh-out-loud slam dunk, but every time this unusual comedy verged on becoming boring, something would happen that would make me smile. By the end, I was happy to have this character that time has forgotten back for what is actually a planned series of films. Keep Maxwell Smart. I'll take Bonisseur de La Bath.

This time Bath heads to Cairo after the death of a good colleague/friend of his in that infamous "nest of spies". OSS 117 has to investigate the murder of his pal and writer/director Michel Hazanavicius has a blast with the insensitive fish out of water angle of his story. Like Bond, Powers, or Drebin, OSS 117 isn't exactly up on his cultural awareness. Watching our hero get caught up in a Muslim rally or as he hilariously assaults a Holy Man praying to the masses at dawn over a megaphone so he can go back to bed is comic gold. But the highlight has to be the most surreal action scene of the year, a chicken fight, as in a fight with live poultry as the weapon. It's fantastic. But OSS 117 isn't just a "dumb spy" comedy. Those are a dime-a-dozen. There's more of an actual spy movie going on here. OSS 117 still beds beautiful women and gets the bad guy. He just doesn't do it quite as smoothly as Bond.

Get Smart may have made more money in its first Friday showing than OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies will make in its entire run, but I have a feeling this film will still be a cult classic long after the Steve Carell vehicle has been turned into the answer to a trivia question. It's clever, quick, and very light on its feet. Sure, there are a few more dry patches than there should be, but the film always catches its balance. Like its hero, the job may not be done with the most style and grace, but it definitely gets done.