Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

The Age of Commercialism

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Some movies entertain and fill the senses with thrills and excitement while others manipulate emotions and leave us in tears. Here is a film that does all of that and so much more besides. I'm not French and I didn't holiday in France either; yet here I am, full of nostalgia for childhood holidays, the sun, the beach and the unwritten rules of the two-week holiday. Tati captures the nuances of life that we all cherish, whether previously observed or not. To be human, to be shy, to be eccentric, serious, tired, cool, arty, a dragon or a man with no purpose other than to follow six paces behind his wife. The music, the pace, the sheer silliness, the unintelligible voice on the Tannoy, the child's head appearing through the steering wheel. How can anyone over the age of 25 not watch this with a smile on their face? I have read some reviews that call it boring and repetitive... no doubt written by folks that need aliens, car chases, guns, blood and expletives every other word. What good is a film without nudity, the main character with his shirt ripped off, sirens screaming, breakneck pace and clipped dialogue? To those people: one day, when you've experienced more of life, when you're ready and receptive you will 'get' it, I promise you. And when that happens you will see what is meant by the reverence metered out on this film. It's beautifully made, utterly charming, funny, poignant, cool, relaxing, annoying, shrewd, enlightening, observational, human, warm, unassuming, inoffensive and completely brilliant.

Monsieur Hulot (Jacques Tati) comes to a beachside hotel for a vacation, where he accidentally (but good-naturedly) causes havoc.The film affectionately lampoons several hidebound elements of French political and economic classes, from chubby capitalists and self-important Marxist intellectuals to petty proprietors and drab dilettantes, most of whom find it nearly impossible to free themselves, even temporarily, from their rigid social roles in order to relax and enjoy life. Is this, in some small way, a precursor to "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie"? On its release in the United States, Bosley Crowther's review said that the film contained "much the same visual satire that we used to get in the 'silent' days from the pictures of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and such as those." Crowther is quite right, and it would be no surprise if Tati used these earlier comedians as his template. His previous film, "Jour de Fete", had all the earmarks of a silent comedy.

I don't know where I stand with regard to Jaques Tati. Since I first saw 'Les Vacances' when I was a teenager I knew he was a bit different from most other comic actors/writers. However, I don't think he is worth the over-the-top praise he sometimes gets. I now have the box-set of his films from BFI, and we are watching them in chronological order. 'Jour de Fete' is delightful, but Tati's style wasn't yet polished. He reaches his peak with 'Vacances' and 'Mon Oncle' in my view. I'm so glad he stuck to black & white photography for this film, I maintain that it captures the heat and light of a summer's day better than any colour process. Combined with the easy jazz music (very French) and the sound of distant voices on the beach, it conjures up a sunny holiday so well. Most of the humour is pretty low-key and incidental (just as Tati intended) but there are some flashes of real laugh-out-loud occurrences. One is where he is wearing the rambler's back-pack and the stopper pops out of the thermos flask and knocks his hat off. I wonder how many goes they had at that? The restoration is excellent. The image is clear, clean and stable and most of the scratches and dirt have been banished. I'm glad the team did not do any more, as it can lead to the final result looking more like video tape rather than film (witness many of the restored MGM musicals). One to savour occasionally.

Seems that I just don't like this movie as much as everyone else seems to do. Don't get me wrong, I was still throughout amused by this movie, it just was not one that really ever made me laugh out loud or entertain constantly, while this was obviously the movie its intentions. The movie tries to be an humorous one in basically literally all of its scene's. Needless to say that not everything in the movie really works out and there are just a few moments that are truly funny. Add to that that the overall movie is quite slowly paced, so its sequences often really take its time to develop and to reach its funny peak.Those moments are often the slapstick ones. You could say that this movie is being a 'modern' slapstick, that features as little dialog as possible. The psychical comedy of the movie can get funny at times, though its not ever anything too surprising or innovative. There is not really a story in it all. It's simply about a beach-side hotel, at which some strange characters stay. Main character is Monsieur Hulot, who everybody for no apparent reason seems to hate. He is being played by director Jacques Tati himself and was a character that got featured in some later Jacques Tati comedies again. I'm still willing to give all those movies a shot though, since I was still quite amused by this whole movie. And I'm a fan of slapstick humor as well, so I'm hoping this all gets featured better in some of the other 'Monsieur Hulot' movies.Thing is that there just isn't much to the story at all. There is no problem or big mystery that needs to be solved. No love story or no evil villainous characters. There is nothing wrong with a movie that doesn't really follow a narrative and is just basically the one comical intended sequences and situation after the other but in this case the movie just doesn't know to benefit from this approach. The movie doesn't even really constantly follow its main character at all. Added to that is it's rather slow pace of story-telling (which French movies are often known for), with as an end result an at times rather slow and lacking comedy.Amusing to watch throughout but just not always that funny and it all gets too slowly paced, by writer, director and actor, Jacques Tati.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/