Admirable film.

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Le Diner de Cons is, in every possible way, an enjoyable movie. It's funny, it's witty, it's well written, it's fantastically acted. In all honesty, though, I can't really see any justification for its cult status or the raving reviews; in the end, it's a comedy, and nothing more, and a pretty cruel and crude one at that, with an old-fashioned and non-PC value system, though it almost redeems itself in that aspect a couple of times. French culture and mentality do play a part, for sure, but frankly I can see the exact same movie being released in English and getting much less critical attention.But once again - the film is a comedy, and it's a funny one. And since it's a very minimalistic in scope and setting, the comedy rests mostly on the shoulders of the two leads, who both deliver hilariously. At under 80 minutes, it's just entertaining enough to make for a good watch and good fun.

It's not often that I find comedies funny, but this was really amusing.Every week Mr.Brochant (who works in publishing) and his over class and snobby friends have a dinner party where they all should bring an idiot, whereby they afterward decide who had brought the biggest idiot. (It's worth telling that idiot in this context really means a nerd, someone who can tell for hours about their hobby.) In this manner Mr.Pignon suits very well. Mr.Pignon is a humble and nice man who besides working at the tax office and cheering his favorite team Auxerre, makes models of famous buildings with matches. It's a friend of Mr. Brochant who has "found" Mr.Pignon and tipped Mr.Brochant about him. And to get to know him a bit Mr.Brochant invites him to his place in the hours before the dinner. But hey are denied from going to the dinner because of Mr.Brochant's injured back, but before Mr.Pignon gets to leave the apartment things really start to happen.At times I felt really sorry for Pignon, like I suppose almost everybody feels, but at the time develops he's getting funnier and funnier in his always failing attempts to help struggling Brochant. It's not overdone (except from a scene in the beginning where another idiot gets his boomerang in his head) and the dialogs are really good and entertaining. Some of the scenes are worth watching over and over, I never stop loving them.If you don't know french and aren't used to reading subtitles that might be a drawback, but I can highly recommend this movie. It's just lasting 1h20min, which I appreciate. Some movies last too long. If this one was a 2hours-movie things would had to be overdone, but this avoid this trap. Enjoy it!

Pierre Brochant (Thierry Lhermitte) and his friends have a contest for every Wednesday dinner that consist in invite a fool that they know and have fun with them all the dinner. Pierre find in Francois Pignon (Jacques Villeret) his own gem for the dinner but he can't go due to a problem with his back. Now Pierre must deal with this fool all the night in his apartment.A couple of months ago i watch a film of Francis Veber for the first time in a festival and i enjoy it so when i found a DVD of another film of Veber i decide to get it. I didn't know what to expect of "Le Diner de cons" but if i were expecting a very funny comedy with an hilarious character, definitely this film was the perfect to fill my expectations. I really like this film, first because it has a very original contest as the main subject that is very cruel too,but we never see the reactions of Pierre's friends about Pignon, actually the entire film is in Pierre's apartment so the characters must have a lot of great lines and funny situations to keep going with the film in the same place. And that's the second thing i really like of this film, the character of Pignon. This man could be a really headache to anybody who meet him, making any situation a big problem. And is played in a great way by Jacques Villeret. The support characters are just fun, specially Pignon's friend who loves football (that scene, when both are talking in the phone, in probably my favourite).And the final message of the film could be the classic one, actually it is but the very last scene is really great and change everything because after all, he was just a complete fool.Conclusion: i enjoyed a lot this film,which runtime is only 80 minutes, and left me desires to continue checking Veber's filmography. And yes there is a good message for all the Pierres around but also another that says: don't trust in fools. 9.5 out of 10

This funny french film by Francis Verber predates the wonderful Tais Tois and has made me want to see others by this director. Two funny films by the same chap bodes well. What came to mind in first viewing was "Hoisted by your own petard" What is a petard? I discover it was a small metallic bell shaped engine of war used to blow breaches in gates or walls. The significant feature was that they were full of gunpowder - basically what we would now call a bomb. And there is also another French word 'péter' - to fart, which it's hard to imagine is unrelated. But this isn't one of those gaseous comedies and although light it is full of wit.The film is about a group of snobbish friends who once a week have a meal and invite a victim. The victims are stupid and the winner is the person who can find the imbecile of the Week. The story mostly centres on Pierre Brochant (Thierry Lhermitte) who selects a boorish tax accountant François Pignon (Jacques Villeret). But Monsieur Pignon fails with every task he is set and gets monsieur Brochant into ever deeper do do.It struck me that this must have first been a play as only one scene is really needed for the play - the affluent flat of the arrogant Monsieur Brochant. Its like the old Brian Rix Whitehall Farces. Jolly funny as everyone gets the fate they deserve. I think its worth checking out this and other films by Francis Verber.