Load of rubbish!!

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Years before the erotic thriller "Swimming Pool", director Francois Ozon directed the the morbid dark comedy gem "Sitcom". If you're a fan of Almadover, Bunuel, John Waters or even Peter Greenaway; you'll probably find this film hilarious. I did! In "Sitcom", a father brings home a pet rat. Little does he know about how the pet rat will effect his family. The rat has a power that unleashes the families innermost desires. The son tells the family he's gay at dinnertime. He seduces the maids boyfriend and later has orgies in his room. The sister jumps out the window and becomes a wheel chair bound paraplegic into kinky S&M. She is cruel to her boyfriend and makes him where leather. She says "What, I don't turn you on anymore?". That scene is so sick, but so funny. Then on top of that she tries to seduce her own father. In an attempt to turn her son straight, the mother seduces the son. Although this is so dark and twisted, the film is downright hilarious. I mean, it's over the top satirical lunacy! Some aspects of the story are confusing, so you may want to watch it twice.

I love Francois Ozon's films. Together with this, I have seen all his feature-length work (Sitcom, Criminal Lovers, Drops Falling On Burning Rocks, Under the Sand, 8 Women, Swimming Pool). "Sitcom" is the film by him that I found the most bizarre and unsettling (even though I had some good laughs). The ending was a bit too much, but otherwise, I quite liked it. The atmosphere and the bizarre events sometimes reminded me of "Criminal Lovers", that he made immediately afterwards, but with more focus on black humor than in the latter.The whole way through, the story of "Sitcom" reminded me of Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Theorem" (Teorema) - much more than of Bunuel's "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie", already mentioned here. In Pasolini's 1968 film, a strange visitor unsettles the life of an Italian bourgeois family: after he leaves, the daughter loses her mind, starts lying catatonicly on her bed and has to be transferred to a mental institution; the mother, in a desperate urge for promiscuity, picks up handsome young men on the streets for sex; the maid goes back to her village and becomes a levitating saint; the son discovers his talent for painting (and probably realizes that he is gay); the father at first seems not to be affected, but then he also succumbs to the influence. Ozon's film seems to take up this motif and transfer it to a very-very black farce and a parody of American sitcoms (I love the set design with all those bright colors!). People here (especially the mother) always try to "talk things out" like in the sitcoms, but it doesn't really work, because the environment is/has become so different.At the very end, though, everyone seems to have found themselves at last: from a dysfunctional family, they have apparently become a happy family again - though not exactly in the traditional, conservative way. But the white rat is still lurking everywhere...

Sitcom is one of the most shockingly humourous films I have seen in a while. Nonstop laughs from start to finish--the only flaws are the misleading beginning and the strange finale but still tons of fun! I saw this film during a short one-week showing, but ended up ordering the video to show my friends! Definitely worth watching!

Just as the universe started with a big bang the comedy SITCOM does likewise and in the aftermath we are introduced to a family in utter chaos, disoriented and maladjusted. However, mother who is the central character believes she can rectify many of the problems. Nevertheless it is a white rat brought home by father that generates some sort of harmony within the household. The comedy moves fast and the laughs are in the lines spoken in dead seriousness by the competent cast. The story jumps from dreams to reality so we are never quite sure where we are. It takes someone like Francois Ozon to put all this on film. This original story is amusing rather than shocking and the sex scenes are not explicit but rely on one's imagination. The boys' group session with the courgettes does not go anywhere and one wonders if the censor has interfered. The big surprise is the giant rat sequence when the mood of the film changes and for some could become scary. I do not want to give away the plot. Suffice to say "We are what we eat". There is more truth than fiction in the film. It is now recognized that the keeping of pets can reduce blood-pressure and bring contentment and extend life-spans. Having peeped into all the bedrooms and seen the goings-on, we come in the end to a tombstone and we see the white rat nosing about. It is good story telling to leave us guessing and wondering. I am sure there are many interpretations. Perhaps mother's psychiatrist could attempt to explain it as he continues to unravel the lives of this tangled family.