Smoking Causes Coughing

Five vigilantes dressed in blue who can invoke, death, destruction from the compounds in their smoke, Mercury and Nicotine, Ammonia, Methanol - Benzene, plus a rat who dribbles green, you wouldn't stroke (unless you were an attractive young lady with a fetish for vermin, they do exist apparently!). Sent away to come together and prepare, revealing stories leaving eyebrows in the air, hats that change wearers perception, machinery of misconception, defective robots lead to anguish, gloom, despair. Then Lézardin decides to stub earth's light, extinguishing a planet with his clout, can Tobacco Force exhale, create a cancer to avail, getting hooked into a cycle, with no way out.

The avenging "Tobacco Force" group of crime fighters is struggling to function. After many years of combating enemy beasties using their superpowers - the chemicals that, when combined, cause cancer - they are all just falling out of synch. This has not escaped the notice of their ferret-like boss "Chef Didier" who sends them all to a remote retreat where they are to work on their teamwork skills. Around the camp fire, one decides to regale the others with his most terrifying story - and thereafter, one by one, they proceed to outdo each other with increasingly incredulous stories whilst the two women of the group - "Nicotine" (Anaïs Demoustier) and "Ammoniaque" (Oulaya Amamra) pine over the spurned affections of their really pretty revolting, dribbling, boss (anyone remember "Roland Rat"?). For a while it's quite quirkily entertaining, this film - but after about half an hour the joke has worn thin, the pace drops off and the whole thing just loses it's way. It is original - at times it reminded me a little of "Galaxy Quest" (1999), and clearly there is a warning against using the dreaded weed, but Quentin Dupieux didn't really have enough material to sustain this - even for eighty minutes. That said, it is still worth a watch and there are occasions when it made me smile - just not enough of them - and on the telly will do fine.

One thing that movie fans can say unequivocally about French cinephiles is that they often possess a love of absurdist humor, both in the films they watch and in the pictures their countrymen make. That's been verified once again in writer-director Quentin Dupieux's latest, a wacky, wigged out sci-fi/fantasy comedy that's truly one of a kind. The film follows the campy exploits of the Tobacco Force, a Power Ranger-like troupe of superheroes who take on cheesy-looking monsters and villains with their martial arts skills, as well as their ability to emit toxic chemicals (like nicotine) in ample quantities to quickly vanquish their foes. However, in the wake of their latest successful mission, their commander (a randy lookalike cousin of TV's lovable alien Alf) orders them to go on retreat to work on their team building skills to compensate for a recent tendency toward too much individualism. And, once there, they work on their bonding by spending much of their time telling stories - truly bizarre ones - that have nothing to do with them or their mission. In turn, these assorted vignettes essentially make up the bulk of the film. Viewers (myself included) might wonder why the picture is constructed in such a way, given that it plays more like a collection of bits loosely strung together by a thin central narrative. But that didn't stop me from laughing, though - and quite a lot at that. From the standpoint of a movie that has a solid, well-crafted story, "Smoking Causes Coughing" fails miserably. But, as one that tickles the funny bone, the picture hits a string of home runs. Yes, it's silly and nonsensical, and it's far from epic filmmaking, However, as something that evokes huge chuckles for their own sake, this one is hard to beat. So, as long as you don't go in expecting auteur-grade cinema, you'll be fine if you accept this one just for what it is - a vehicle for making us laugh at a time when we can really use it most.

Quentin Duplex wrote the very weird, 'Deerskin', which I did enjoy. And this is just as crazy as that. I admit the trailer for this, is very bad, and really does not do the film justice, as it's entertaining, and is short too. It certainly earns its rating for violence and gore, buckets of blood, monsters get killed, and the stories that are shared during the movie and the whole film story itself, is bizarre, funny and quite mad.

The story is about a sort of super hero group with names about smoking, it's metaphoric in nature, but their actions are not. The five key players are very likeable and written well, the production design, costumes and whole look is 1970's Japanese Kaiju movies / Power Rangers rip off / homage, done crazily. But it works, just, thanks to the short run time and performances too.

Some great effects that are done real well, and used sparingly, and the tone is not to be taken seriously, which you can't, and that's the point. 6/10 for this, just not enough for a 7. A limited release and audience for this one, if you can find it. The ending is just as nuts as 'Deerskin'.

Collecting some vaguely creative ideas and putting them in a movie without any real work cannot make a good result. Some projects may lack some budget and compensate with creativity. Here, we get the exact opposite, with a huge cast trapped into a non-existing direction. You'll always find some people to find it's genius or whatever. These people are only trying to look cool.

The movie is excessively short and boring at the same time. The stories composing the film are all shallow and its "modern" messages are not subtle at all. Either people won't get them or people will find them simplistic.

If Quentin Dupieux started working a little bit harder, maybe the result would deserve some interest and show some respect to the audience. Here, we are served something without any care or teste. The movie is emotionless. Because it seems inspired by Peter Jackson's early works and the Metal Heroes era, it should at least have their spirit and energy...