The Under-Gifted

Indeed, there is one genre in which American movies usually fail and french one are rather inspired : comedy ! And for my country, Zidi was among the best for that : he had really the talent to pick classic positive characters and put them borderline, so the fun ! Before policemen taking bribes, here he plays with cheating students ! It's light, natural not spoofs or too intellectual so you laugh really hard and have great fun ! The appeal of this movie is his great casting as well : today movies are brand-names, who's who of too much paid people but then, movies were open to unknown newcomers : they were fresh, full of energy and if some has built a career so far, it's has been a one-shot for the others… At last, this movie is also interesting because it happens in a France that has disappeared : if those students are lazy, they show some political ideas, they dress well. Today, students have nothing in their heads, guys dress with sport-ware all day and girls wear less to show more ! Actually, it's maybe the first time I watched this movie : when it was aired on TV, i was a kid so in a period which means no TV at night except Tuesday and Saturday, so i heard about it in school playground with my friends talking about it ! I'm on board for their summer sequel next week !

'Baccalauréat' examination is a very important feature of French culture and civilization. Its importance can be assessed by the fact that the intellectual stance of a person is measured in France by ascertaining how many marks did that person get in his/her 'baccalauréat'/"Bac" examinations.Each year,this examination receives elaborate press as well as electronic media coverage. Despite the importance of this examination which is extremely popular outside of France too, there are not many French films which have shown the importance of "Baccalauréat" examination in a light manner. This is one reason why "Les Sous-Doués Passent Le Bac" must be considered a major achievement in the history of French cinema as it treats 'baccalauréat' examination in a very light fashion.French director Claude Zidi chose to highlight restrictions which were put on a group of students in order to make them succeed in their "Bac" exams. Watching this film, it appears as if the students have lost their sense of freedom. It is at this juncture that they decide to play ingenious tricks in classroom in order to score excellent grades. Les Sous-Doués Passent Le Bac shows us the world of students from their perspective as it enables us to understand why youngsters would like to have fun at all costs. It is a pure, visual delight to watch leading men of French cinema Daniel Auteuil, Michel Galabru, Feodor Atkine and Richard Bohringer. Lastly, Claude Zidi worked in close association with Didier Kaminka and Michel Fabre to pen a highly inventive script full of gags and unexpected comic situations.

I spent 3 weeks in France on a foreign exchange/home-stay program and happened to see this film. I was only a second-year french student, but despite the language barrier, I laughed.. SO HARD.. at that movie. I'm sure my host family thought I had lost it. This is one of those movies you wipe the tears from your eyes after laughing so hard about. I'd give my right arm for a DVD of it. It brings to mind a sort of Inspector Cleauseau funniness. These kids are horrible pranksters, and the things they came up with don't quite hit you until the prank is pulled off. All in all, its just a fantastic movie. I wonder if I'll ever see it again...

Like any other in pop culture, Japan seems always to be very adaptable anything that is "cool", with knowing of meaning of it isn't important. The celebration of Christmas Day is long gone.

Yes, I do remember this movie, of course. This was a huge hit in Japan when I was growing up... Japanese titled "The Cunning: IQ=0". I was in my first or second grade, all the kids learned the tricks of cheating exams, well, not during the real exams, but to act like those kids in the movie. That was a real fun to do.

And if I was right, there was a sequence of this film. Either way, I wish this movie was more well-distributed than it was, to this day, it remains as a "cult" film.

We enjoyed it a lot in Japan back then, it is so cool movie, we even did not know (or bother to know) this is from France.

An absolute must-see for those into teenage comedies. I really wish this one was distributed worldwide as it is somewhat reminiscing of Animal House and The Breakfast Club, but just much, much funnier.

The plot: The story of a bunch of students in a tiny private school. Always up to no good, they end up blowing up part of the school. As a result, they can be sent to jail or... pass their baccalaureate. Since they are absolute losers, they'll come up with the zaniest tricks and devices to cheat during both the written and oral exams (both supervised by the police !). This film is a riot from beginning to end, and after that, you will never forget the "Learning Machine" or Mr. Bruce, the sports teacher.