SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

From my favorite movies..

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

"The Animal" from 1977 and director Claude Zidi is amicable enough as a comedy romance and certainly wanted to capitalize on Jean-Paul Belmondo's previous successes as a swashbuckling ("Cartouche") or zany acrobatic and yet dumbfounded "That Man From Rio." "The Animal" seems certainly the sugar-coated "entertainment" big budgeted films feel are safe, yet even though Belmondo seems a bit washed-up and co-star Raquel Welch comes out better with quite a lot less to do, but then the producers have even altered the title in preference of Miss Welch's "abilities" and you may find this entry as "Stuntwoman." Yes, Belmondo and Welch play stunt people and even though at times it is all rather benign, when one looks at the end product, the discerning viewer will feel consistently like their balloon, repeatedly blown up and then let out, has nothing to do but burst. One can certainly feel bad for Belmondo as De Broca is clearly not at the helm, and the only real joys of the film was that it was a top-grossing film in France when it was released. A nice attempt at capturing the glories of the past in financially fueled numbness of our "new" entertainment, but it is only actually half-successful. At times it gets away with not insulting your intelligence, but ultimately you feel like an idiot for its sake.

It all starts with an ugly animated credit sequence focusing on a funky lion. Would that be the Animal in the title? OK, but it's hardly relevant with the character played by Belmondo.The comedy aims to be wild with Belmondo hamming his double-part full-throttle. It may be funny to a 5-year old; for a grown-up it looks like tired jokes with heavy-handed direction in gross situations (the gay movie-star, the crooked and clumsy stunt double). Raquel Welch is beautiful and quite a relief compared to her partner.Overall it smells like a big budget dilapidated into big stunt jokes, in turn dwarfed by the would-be burlesque tone. Somehow Claude Zidi must have been thinking the Marx Brothers had become famous for silly over-the-top gags devoid of any subtlety...

Claude Zidi has made comedies with all the best actors in France: Coluche, Thierry Lhermitte, Daniel Auteuil, Josiane Balasko; I imagine they sign on when they know he's directing. Here he has got Belmondo and Raquel Welch in an entertaining but not deeply probing picture(certainly not as deeply as Salut l'artiste, Yves Robert's film on stunt performers, with Mastroianni).Belmondo has a lot of fun being physical, throwing his 44-year-old body down staircases and over moving cars. That stomach is still as flat as when he made Breathless with Godard, he's a marvel. Raquel Welch looks better here than I can remember her in Hollywood pictures, she's well lit and wears some great outfits by Scherer. She looks a lot better than she did in Mother, Jugs and Speed, or any of those junkfests. Finally, Aldo Maccione as the director is so easy to watch--and I've watched him in many pictures--he's like the perfect shady night club manager, married to the mob.

Watchable little slapstick comedy about a stuntman (Belmondo), his stuntwoman girlfriend (Welch), how the film industry treats them, how they get by when out of a job, etc. Belmondo plays a double role, as a gay movie star and his look-a-like stunt double. He apparently has enormous fun playing both of them completely over the top (as the character of the film demands). For my taste though, his stunt character demands a bit too much love and attention from the audience; we are supposed to route for him getting the girl etc. and I found this somewhat patronising.The film is at its best in moments of fast and furious comedy, for example a memorable scene has Belmondo creating havoc while wearing a Gorilla suit. However, these moments leave Raquel Welch (who looks fantastic in a wet blouse) a bit on the sidelines: slapstick is not quite her metier.