Mandibules

The clown prince of bizarre French comedy—his “Rubber” was about a murderous tire run amok, after all—Quentin Dupieux follows up on his international festival hit “Deerskin” with this hilarious buddy movie about two losers and their pet—a giant fly, which they have quaintly named Dominique. After discovering “Dominique” in the trunk of a car, they hatch a hare-brained plan to use their giant companion to earn some euros, a scheme that takes them on the road and into the orbit of a brain-damaged young woman (French star Adèle Exarchopoulos, deadpan funny—and possibly offensive to some—here)…

‘What makes “Mandibles” [the English title] work more as a straightforward comedy compared to Dupieux’s usual output is the buddy-movie chemistry of leads David Marsais and Grégoire Ludig, who seem to be directly imported into France from the world of “Dumb and Dumber”, with Ludig also channelling major “Big Lebowski” Dude vibes—hair and hygiene included… Short, sweet and genuinely funny at times, if also insane and possibly offensive… In the otherwise stale world of French comedies, Dupieux stands so far out in left field that he's become a genre unto himself.’—Jordan Mintzer, Hollywood Reporter