Special Correspondents

Envoyés très spéciaux ("Very Special Correspondents") is a solid, but also somewhat predictable comedy about two French radio reporters -- namely, suave journalist Frank and his impish tech-guy Albert. When they mess up their big assignment to report from Iraq, they pretend to report from the war zone although they're actually hiding out in gay Paree until the whole thing blows over. Next they have to pretend they've been hijacked while the entire country rallies to the support of their hero reporters -- forcing them to leave their comfortable hideout and actually go to "the real deep sh*t" in Mesopotamia -- where they are promptly hijacked for real. So it's probably not the best time for Frank to tell his buddy a pretty sticky secret ...

On the upside, the movie offers great acting and cinematography, and a very professional production, but its downsides are the uninspired script and the middle-of-the-road direction. This wasn't a movie I couldn't have afford to have missed. In particular, it misses out an a great chance for a long-overdue scathing satire of the global news business.