C’est pas moi, c’est lui (1980)

(On Cable TV, December 2020) Pierre Richard strikes back as a hapless gaffe-prone protagonist in C’est pas moi, c’est lui: Playing a frustrated ghostwriter-screenwriter who gets the bright idea of passing himself off as someone else in order to get recognition for his work, he soon finds himself in Northern Africa, tangled in a mess of assumed identities and double-crossing associates. If you’re familiar with Richard’s screen persona, this is a pure undiluted take on it — slightly enhanced by how the character, even if clumsy and awkward, is clearly competent in his field. (One of the film’s most clever scenes has the character outwitting repossession officers through rule-bending and a bit of physical comedy.) The film can also rely on more than the physical comedy for laughs – the identity-confusion material is good for more than a few laughs, and the foreigner-out-of-his-element is also good. Unfortunately, the film ends on an underwhelming note, as the character spends far too long away from his pregnant fiancée, and escapes captivity through a bit of unnecessary violence. Otherwise, there’s plenty to laugh about here – the scene where he keeps puncturing absurdly inflated sofas is memorable. In many ways, though, C’est pas moi, c’est lui does suffer from being so similar to other Richard movies – if it’s the first one you’ve seen, you’re guaranteed to have fun. If it’s the fifth or sixth, well, you may want to space them out for greater impact.