Jo

Jo might not be the funniest movie with Louis de Funès but I still enjoy it as much as the first time I watched it. To me there are no bad movies starring Louis de Funès. He's by far the best comedian France as ever had, the man with 40 different facial expressions per minute, always very energetic and a delight to watch. Jo has flaws like most French comedies from the seventies but the cast makes this movie enjoyable to watch. Louis de Funès, Claude Gensac, Bernard Blier and Michel Galabru, all comedians that everybody liked, are almost a guarantee for a funny movie. Claude Gensac played again the wife of Louis de Funès, she would do that ten times in her career, a thing we were all familiar with after awhile. Her collaboration with Louis de Funès always worked. Louis de Funès can make any movie good as his energy, screen presence and great sense of humor are always very enjoyable to watch. The story in Jo isn't perfect, that's obvious, but even those minor faults can't bring the quality of this movie down. When I watch a movie like this one I just want to watch more movies starring Louis de Funès, he has that kind of charisma you never get enough of.

This screwball comedy of the early seventies has everything you might expect of a Louis de Funès movie: over-the-top acting (no wonder Louis had cardiac problems later on...). It can be described in one sentence by Inspecteur Ducros (Bernard Blier): "Is this a train station?". In fact, people are coming from all places, run through the house, frantically doing something like putting up a garden gazebo, demonstrating a (non-working) fire-extinguisher, doing police investigations, having a matrimonial crisis, laughing like a mad dog (the maid), doing the real-estate business and so on.

Inludes appearances by Ferdie Mayne (Mister Grunder), the notorious Count von Krolock in Roman Polanski's 1967 Dracula spoof "The Fearless Vampire Killers".

"Jo" is definitely a movie for de Funès fans as much as for those who just love to watch a fast-paced thriller-comedy. It is a shame that this gem is not yet available on DVD or VHS tape, not even in France. Since MGM seems to hold the rights one might ask why so.

This is one of the best films Louis de Funes has done. His type of acting is not everyones taste but if you like Jerry Lewis' movies or Peter Sellers in his Pink Panther Series - this is a *must* for you! Hilarious situations, strange but funny characters, slapstick and of course de Funes as the choleric man who has to struggle with endless problems makes an outstandig comedy. And then it's fun to watch all those 70ies costumes and decoration as well ;-)

In this movie, we can see a de Funès a little more human than in some other parts (I have about 45 of his movies that I watch again and again). He is frightened, he worried about his wife's reputation, he shows his love for her in a (short) moving scene.

I read the other comments about this movie. there is something I am sure of: If you can't hear the real voice of de Funès, you miss half of the fun, if you don't understand French, you miss even more. It's not obvious for all actors, but for Louis de Funès, who was also a very good mime, his way of speaking (especially when he is dominated by someone in a situation he doesn't know what to do) is unique, un-dubbable.

In France, we can see Benny Hill dubbed, I had the occasion to see some episodes with his own voice and the real texts, in French, we lost a lot. It's the same with many comedians, and for de Funès most of all.

Among other movies with de Funes, this might be the funniest. However, it has one drawback, typical for many french comedies. Very intensive from the very beginning, the fun and humor reach the highest point at about the middle of the movie, and after the 2/3 of it you suddenly realize that you're fed up with it, the rest seems rather stupid than funny. One woman appears every fifteen minutes with a glass of wine in her hand, another one appears every 20 minutes, laughing like a peacock. But de Funes, I have to say, never becomes boring thanks to his great talent.

In points, 8. Although the first half might get 10.