By and large,I do not go much for the feel good French movies ,but this one redeems itself by championning the chanson française whereas this kind of film generally includes songs in English whose connection with the plot is thin,to put it mildly.
Okay,the film poster is an imitation of the Beatles' "Abbey Road ";but how many pastiches are there,across the universe ,of this iconic cover??So many you couldn't count them all.
Apart from this , "si on chantait" is some kind of tribute to the chanson française which is,dans un film français, fine with me.
People on the dole launch their song delivery company :an improvement on the old tradition which consists of dedicating a record to a dear one, via radio ; the employees of the company come to your door and perform live before the lucky recipient.
It spawns very good scenes ,some moving (but a tendency to overplay sometimes) ,some riotously funny: Clovis Cornillac singing Gainsbourg's "je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais " to his hateful foreman before resigning is a great moment ;AlIce Pol serenading her lover's wife before the legal couple ;but Artus steals the show when he begins to sing in tune after understanding the double entendre of songs such as " banana split" and Gainsbourg's "les sucettes"!
It's uneven though ;the older cast has a tendency to hog the stage,particularly Henriette ;the grannies and their vibrators , it's crude and ridiculous ; the overpossessive mom who wants to do her bashful clueless boy away from the house because she's got a brand new beau is a cliché to end all the clichés .
The title is taken from a memorable Julien Clerc's eponymous song (=shall we sing?) ; and once more ,hats off to you ,Jeremy Lopez and your pals, for your welcome tribute to the chanson française :pizzazz plus!
