Micmacs

The limitations of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's flamboyant style (used so successfully in Amelie and A Very Long Engagement) are evident in his latest film, a complicated farce that plays like a series of three-minute live-action cartoons stitched together. Micmacs begins with dippy hero Bazil (Dany Boon) taking a bullet to the head during an assault. After the surgeons decide not to remove the shell, Bazil finds himself forced to survive on the street until he's eventually taken in by the titular family of oddball outcasts, who spend their time collecting junk and turning same into strange mechanical contraptions. The plot kicks in when Bazil stumbles on the identity of the rival arms firms responsible for both his own condition and the death of his father from a land mine, after which he enlists his new companions for elaborate missions to set the munitions peddlers against one another. Staged with Rube Goldberg devices and split-second timing, these mini-episodes make Micmacs feel like a super-extended Road Runner short, with the arms dealers serving as a pair of humiliated Wile E. Coyotes. Granted, every scene benefits from the lavish production design and elaborate camerawork, but all the visual dexterity in the world can't make up for the hollow script at the core of the film. Not recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, a “making-of” featurette (48 min.), a Q&A with Jeunet and actress Julie Ferrier (11 min.), “Animations: Absurd Deaths” segments (3 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is the BD-Live function. Bottom line: a fine extras package for a disappointing film.] (F. Swietek)