Gli 11 comandamenti

Naturally, Michaël Youn didn't invent the concept, that belonged to the "Jackass" series but those were the "Big Brother" and reality TV days and in a time where every successful idea was duplicated in every country in the world, no one should cast a stone at Youn and his team for lack of originality. And Youn didn't wait for "Jackass" to be exported in France to become a troublemaking icon, a TV cuckoo to wake up all the early birds from 2000 to 2002. Long before the Youtube days, Youn was the host of a TV show called "Morning Live", a show where no holds were barred and where he and his friends and sidekicks Vincent Desagnat and Benjamin Morgaine did basically anything for the sake of laughs, from the cheapest gags to the most elaborate.

What's left from this show besides that it launched his career is a daily stunt with a megaphone, using various places such as a lavatory, a car shop and even his girlfriend's bedroom to deliver a loud "Morning Live, from 7 to 9, the show that awakens your neighbors!" he made a spectacular entrance in France by delivering on a breakfast plate a bit of silliness, much needed in these post September 11 days. There was a guy back then named Remi Gaillard who was as good if not better (as in more sophisticated) as Youn but Gaillard didn't have Youtube to back him up, not yet. Youn could still count on TV and earned enough notoriety and money to a successful film in 2003 called "La Beuze".

Cancelling his idea of a sequel because of the political context, he figured he could use a budget to adapt the Jackass concept and there came "The 11 Commandments", a film so old that the now blacklisted and controversial Dieudonné stars there as the God of Prank. The film is simple: playing their real selves, Youn, Desagnat, Morgaine and a few newcomers must accomplish tasks à la Hercule and the film follows an episodic storyline punctuated with more or less inspired interludes. One of them includes a race with the guys disguised as phallic organs, Desagnat being the tallest one has naturally the black-colored one, the rest includes random quickies, sketches and song parodies.

Random is the word, the film's merit is that within the chaotic assemblage, there are moments that confine to genius and some that fall flat, maybe that's the essence of Youn's humor, he takes risk, and even when you don't laugh, there's still room for admiration. I wasn't sure I laughed at the bit where foot and tennis balls were thrown at them (cameos from Djibril Cissé and Amelie Mauresmo), I'm not sure I laughed at the way they turned a whole house into a living swimming pool or the part in the supermarket where they started playing with floor and ketchup though the sight of security officer slipping made me laugh hard. So I guess it's not much the stunt that works than its punchline, it's fun to see the serious man slipping because he didn't want to and he's the guy making his job.

It's the banana peel principle I guess. There's another moment where a simple pizza delivery brings dozens of people to the house, turning an extra menu into a whole improvised party inside some guy's room, I didn't laugh a bit, not until everyone left the house and the fat deliveryman stayed and asked the customer if he needed any hot sauce, that was pure genius and made the part all worth it. For a film that makes a comment about the way to make people laugh (the God parts are quite inspired), it's only justice that I get analytical. So, the result is uneven for one restaurant task where they turn until losing their balance to throw food all over the place (not funny), another one consists of playing " Cotton Eye Joe" in a library (funny), for a moment where they put on blue pills to show their endowments in a beach (funny), you have the pepper moment (not so funny). The arrest contest is braver than funny but it provides an interesting insight on the stuff that challenges the cops' patience and what doesn't.

But my favorite moment is still the one where they all sing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" in front of a Lyon audience (the pun is obvious) and saying they come from Saint-Etienne (which would be like saying you're a Barcelonan band in Bernabeu), that moment isn't hilarious but it's smart and well-thought, and makes the experience worthwhile. Of course, the whole film is a joke but I admire the way even they lost control, leading to that strange escalation during the endings credits sequence as if the project went beyond their heads. "The 11 Commandments" is like nothing else in French cinema, it's juvenile, childish, prankish, crass but there's smartness lying underneath and signs that maybe Youn does "Jackass" but secretly admire "Monty Python" (the animation is clearly an ode to Terry Gilliam's style).

Now, if you easily cringe at the sight of people going for troubles with the cops, indulging to distasteful pranks, wasting food, this movie might not be for you, and you might spend most of the time filled with unease and disgust. But then again, if you're that kind of person, the film might offer you a new and twisted area of perception, here is a bunch of crazy grown-ups with the maturity of high-school teenagers doing the kind of stuff you'd never dare to even think about it... and isn't it the essence of movies to show you stuff you wouldn't see anywhere else? Or wouldn't do?