My New Partner: French Farce at its Finest (and a little bit problematic)

Okay, so I stumbled across "My New Partner" (original title: Le Marginal) the other night and I'm still chuckling. It's a classic French buddy cop comedy from the 80s, and while it hasn't aged perfectly, it's still hilarious. Basically, you've got this seasoned, semi-corrupt Parisian cop, René (played brilliantly by Philippe Noiret), who's got a good thing going with the local petty criminals. He takes a little somethin' somethin' to look the other way, you know how it is. Then BAM! He gets saddled with a fresh-out-of-the-academy partner, François, who's all sunshine and rainbows and believes in justice (Thierry Lhermitte nails the exasperated idealist). The whole movie is basically René trying to corrupt François (or at least get him to chill out a little) and François being perpetually shocked and appalled. The car chases are gloriously chaotic, and the dialogue is sharp as a tack. Honestly, some of the bits with the prostitutes and petty thieves are a little...dated, let's just say. But there's something about the sheer absurdity of it all that I still find funny. Like, the scene where René tries to get François to accept a bribe from a guy selling knock-off watches? Comedy GOLD. I think what I liked most was the chemistry between Noiret and Lhermitte. They play off each other so well. René is this lovable rogue you can't help but root for, even though he's morally questionable. And François, despite being a stick-in-the-mud, eventually starts to loosen up (just a little bit). It's not the greatest movie ever made, and it's definitely not PC by today's standards, but if you're looking for some silly, lighthearted escapism, it's worth a watch. I mean, who doesn't love a good 80s French comedy, am I right? On another note, I saw in Wikipedia that Claude Zidi directed the film, not 'unknown', so sorry bout that! I still think you should check it out, just to see what you think. And please, let me know if you do!