«Le coup du siècle» is not the comedy of the century

In keeping with the «likeable but no more» style of comedy, The coup du siècle by British director Chris Addison is even more «likeable and a little less so». Verdict.

Penny is one hustler, Josephine another. But the two women work in radically different styles. Except that they only prey on men. One is fat and good-looking; she picks her victims from among perverts looking for booty calls and generous breasts on social networks. The other is sophisticated and refined, extorting the rich and old from the Riviera. Penny's trip to France leads to a chance meeting between the two women. What begins as a competition ends up as a collaboration where the profits flow freely. Or so they think.

The comedy is pretty bland. More precisely: not very good, not very bad, but nice. There are moments of laughter and amusement, but the film offers little to the viewer. What is interesting, however, is the male-female antagonism. The coup du siècle is inspired by Crookedest of the two (1988), starring legends Steve Martin and Michael Caine, itself inspired by Seducers with two other legends: Marlon Brando and David Niven. Only, this time the scam is run by women rather than men.

Admittedly, a conversion of this kind loses some of its originality, insofar as it's totally in line with the feminist wave. But that doesn't mean the idea isn't a good one. The result is a little less so. Although it's not worth blaming it any more than it deserves. In fact, it's a lot of fun; the opposition between the two women makes you smile. The games played by a comic who assumes the grotesque are tolerable. The twist that makes the executioner sympathetic and the victim unsympathetic is worthy of note. For all that, The coup du siècle is certainly not the comedy of the century.