Monsieur Claude and his great feast

Only with difficulty has Monsieur Claude (Christian Clavier) gotten used to the choice of husbands of his four daughters. But the fact that the couples now also live very close by and Claude hardly has a place of retreat for himself is simply too much of a good thing. He hopes to relax at the romantic dinner he has planned with his wife Marie Verneuil (Chantal Lauby) for their 40th wedding anniversary. His daughters Ségolène (Emilie Caen), Isabelle (Frédérique Bel), Odile (Julia Piaton) and Laure (Elodie Fontan), however, have completely different plans: they want to throw a lavish party for their parents - and invite all their in-laws. The clash of different cultures and traditions that this crowd of guests brings is a guarantee for multicultural chaos, which finally exhausts Claude's tolerance reserves...

Comedies about multicultural society have been booming for several years. The French hit film "Monsieur Claude und seine Töchter" was one of the most successful films to tackle the subject in Germany. The sequel was also a big box-office hit not only in France but also in this country - even if the success of the first film could not quite be matched. Director Philippe de Chauveron and his co-writer Guy Laurent have now for a third time played a lively game with clichés and stereotypes of different cultures. Yes, this still works quite well in the third attempt, but unfortunately also seems a bit overused.

Even at the beginning, when Claude is desperately looking for a place where not any of his sons-in-law are lying in wait for him, the entertainment factor of the comedy is right at the top. However, it also becomes clear that this is mainly thanks to the play of Christian Clavier, who embodies this role simply mercilessly well. Also, the quarrels of the sons-in-law among themselves, which reveal that there is almost as much stuffiness in the men as in Monsieur Claude, provide quite a few good laughs.

But at the latest, when all the in-laws show up, it becomes clear: Here the makers wanted to put comedically simply still another shovel on it and have thereby overshot the mark. It's simply too much of a good thing, especially since the quirks of the individual characters seem overdone. The chaos that now arises when all these people from different cultures meet is still amusing, but in places also really exhausting.

"Monsieur Claude and His Great Feast" is nice comedy entertainment, but the big laughs that the first film still offered are simply missing in the third rehashing of the familiar ingredients. The fact that the whole thing is still really worth seeing is mainly thanks to the good-humored ensemble around Christian Clavier, whom I would also watch a fourth time. But somehow I hope that they don't really try to ride the concept completely to death with another film. For part 3, if you're looking for light summer cinema with some nice gags, "Monsieur Claude and His Great Feast" can definitely still be recommended to you. Worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp