The Gastambide system works perfectly in this universe: the three nincompoops in charge - Franck Gastambide, Malik Bentalha and Anouar Toubali - meet up in Thailand for a story that the scriptwriters (Franck Gastambide and Stéphane Kazandjian) have the secret to.
The ingredients are there: delirious adventures, diarrhea-filled dialogue, a few touches of scatology, plenty of obsessions with sex, the use of animals, acting direction that works, alternating situation comedy and action sequences, and a story of friendship and family. Friendship between Franck Gastambide and Malik Bentalha, but also with Anouar Toubali. In fact, of the trio, it's Malik Bentalha and Anouar Toubali who get the job done, providing what's needed with their characters to produce the comic elements. The family is represented by Ramzy Bedia's character as an unlikely cousin (or whatever) who revels in the habits and customs of his host country. Franck Gastambide's character almost manages to be touching, with his pathetic obsession with his girlfriend who dumped him, while he still believes in that love.
Added to this is a plot concerning the trio's battle against a colossus from a local dwarf sect, led by Gad Elmaleh as a hilarious martial arts guru. The script uses the clichés of the genre, with training, then the normally hopeless battle and finally the overcoming of self and victory. This Pattaya doesn't match the brilliance of Les Kaïra (2012), but it's still a good film, in its genre.
The ingredients are there: delirious adventures, diarrhea-filled dialogue, a few touches of scatology, plenty of obsessions with sex, the use of animals, acting direction that works, alternating situation comedy and action sequences, and a story of friendship and family. Friendship between Franck Gastambide and Malik Bentalha, but also with Anouar Toubali. In fact, of the trio, it's Malik Bentalha and Anouar Toubali who get the job done, providing what's needed with their characters to produce the comic elements. The family is represented by Ramzy Bedia's character as an unlikely cousin (or whatever) who revels in the habits and customs of his host country. Franck Gastambide's character almost manages to be touching, with his pathetic obsession with his girlfriend who dumped him, while he still believes in that love.
Added to this is a plot concerning the trio's battle against a colossus from a local dwarf sect, led by Gad Elmaleh as a hilarious martial arts guru. The script uses the clichés of the genre, with training, then the normally hopeless battle and finally the overcoming of self and victory. This Pattaya doesn't match the brilliance of Les Kaïra (2012), but it's still a good film, in its genre.