Le Mac - Doppelt knallt`s besser

Ace (José Garcia) is a gangster, as he stands in the book: the tough pimp likes to speak his fists or his gun, if someone comes to him stupid. Drugs, sex and violence determine his everyday life. But Ace has a secret: he's also a police informer working for drug cops Mazin (Alain Fromager) and Rafart (Laurent Bateau) to help them finally put his boss Tiago Mendès (Gilbert Melki) behind bars. But when Mendès learns that there is a traitor in his ranks, things get too hot for Ace and he disappears. The enterprise now seems to be off, but there is one last hope for the cops: Gilbert Chapelle, Ace's unknown twin brother. Too bad Gilbert is a buttoned-up office boy and a wimp of the first order. In no time at all, the frightened rabbit must be turned into a ripping beast in order for Mendès to be fooled. And that's just the least of the problems.

Le Mac is a loopy action comedy that gains a lot of charm and wit from good dubbing. Rick Kavanian does a wonderful job as both loudmouth Ace and coy, dorky Gilbert, saving the action even over the slightly flatter gags. This more than does justice to the versatility of lead actor José Garcia, who congenially brings the two different twin brothers to life and manages to make even a brutal pimp like Ace seem somehow sympathetic.

The humor of Pascal Bourdiaux's feature debut is at times quite brute and rather flat than clever. Many a gag also feels a bit dusty and would fit more in a 70s dud than a contemporary action-comedy. And yet, Le Mac ends up being a hell of a lot of fun. The cast's enthusiasm for acting is simply infectious, and the over-the-top humor is just unrestrainedly silly in an almost charming way that you're only too happy to forgive the creators for many a comedic misstep.

With nearly 1.5 million viewers, Le Mac was one of the most successful comedies of 2010 in France. Even if a similar success in Germany can hardly be expected, it would be quite wish this crime comedy that it also finds its audience here. Because especially in comparison to many extremely flat US comedies like Kindsköpfe or Meine Frau, die Spartaner und ich, which can still attract relatively many visitors to the cinemas despite significantly weaker gags, Le Mac comes off much better in terms of quality. No great head cinema and also no really sophisticated comedy, but a rollicking and somehow charming action clambake, which can score with a good leading actor and a very good dubbing - for friends of the somewhat silly fare enough good reasons to be well entertained by this leaden confusion game.

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp