Francis Veber has consistently made French Boulevard farce look comfortable on the screen for decades. There’s no secret to his formula, setting up whatever outrageous/comic situation he needs not over an act, but in a single reel, then sticking to its logical consequences, no matter how absurd, until it plays out. And at his best, as he is here, no one needs to act stupid just to keep complications compounding. COMPERES plays that old stand-by ‘Too Many Dads,’ as a troubled teenage kid runs away with his girl and gets mixed up with her nasty gang. His mom calls two old flames (the unbeatable team of Pierre Richard & Gerard Depardieu) to help find him, telling each that the boy is his son. As wild card, Depardieu is also hunting up evidence against mob types who are soon on his tail. Veber can be faulted for fumbling the choreography on a couple of physical gags (as slapstick technician, he’s no Blake Edwards), but he knows what he needs to get in each & every shot; gets it; then gets out. Stylistically, it's not so far removed from Don Siegel's blunt practicality, if Siegel could tell a joke. But then, Pierre Richard is so inspired here, anyone would come up aces. (Except perhaps Ivan Reitman, who gave us FATHER’S DAY/'97, the gruesome Hollywood remake of COMPERES starring Robin Williams & Billy Crystal.)
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