After reading reviews of this pearl, I had to contribute. This movie is cartoonish in a way, but really what went wrong in France at 80's and reflects the attitudes that lead to contemporary chaos.
It shows many archtypes and no, there is not a single good guy in this movie. 80's France was a dog eat dog spirited country on it's way down to the drain anyone visiting France may whitness today. Yes, it is funny and entertaining, but it can also be interpreted as a cultural anthropoligal presentation of the attitudes common at 80's France which made French people despiced as pariah of common EU today. It reflects not only the attitudes of French people of their society during the era, but also why things proceeded to the point where noone respects anything French. Neither French or other western countrys. It was made as a humoristic critisism, but ended up as a sociological study. Hundred years from now, this movie will still be funny, but also a chronological essay of the fall of once great culture. Some say Lee Marvin simply looks astonished during the movie, but decay of this extent can only be compared to decay of our time in France.
Especially recommendable to anyone interested in the cultural aspects of the downfall of France and to those wondering whether to invest in that poor country, or to start a brain drain. Things did not turn despicable in a night. This movie gives contemporary watcher perspective of the process.
