Le Génie du crime

Rollie Moore and his son Stevie are anything but crime geniuses. You learn this within the first few minutes of the movie. Set entirely in one unit of a seedy motel, when the film opens they are waiting for Shirley to show up. It was Shirley who hired them to set fire to a restaurant. But before she makes her entrance, there`s a very funny scene between Rollie and the owner of the motel, Phillie. Phillie wants to be paid, and neither Rollie nor his son have any money. This sets the tone for the rest of the movie. When Shirley shows up she`s ready to kill Rollie for bungling what should have been a simple task. But Rollie, who believes in a twisted sort of pacifism, argues that arson was too risky and so he decided to kidnap one of the restaurant employees, the chef, Amanda Castle. Unfortunately, for all concerned, she turns out to be the daughter of local bad guy, Mike Castle who hired Shirley who in turn hired Rollie and Stevie to set fire to the restaurant in the first place. Mike had hoped that his daughter would reconcile with him if she didn’t have a job to go to. It’s a bit complicated, but then this is almost classic French farce. If anything can go wrong it does until the very end when the farce turns deadly serious. Francois Papineau, who plays the constantly drunk motel owner, Phillie, is brilliant and while the acting throughout is just a little over the top, it is totally within keeping for the genre. The movie is based on the play by George F. Walker, which was rewritten for the screen by the director.