Mais qui a re-tué Pamela Rose ?

Ten years ago, Kad and Olivier, who at the time had no last names, were suffering from an obvious decline. Their humor, oscillating between heartfelt absurdity and heavy-handed childishness, was showing signs of running out of steam, and their foray into cinema with "Mais qui a tué Pamela Rose?" was a first indicator of this decline. While the original film still offered a few well-crafted jokes and a piquant look at the American imagination, the sequel, "Mais qui a re-tué Pamela Rose?", proved to be a major failure. Not out of malice, but simply a lack of originality, the film falls into the category of forgettable turnips, sounding the death knell of the duo's glory years.

The idea of digging up Pamela Rose, both physically and metaphorically, as a way of reflecting on their own decline was intriguing. Unfortunately, this metaphor is barely scratched the surface, leaving untapped potential. The detective alter egos, Richard Bullit and Douglas Riper, could have been vehicles for exploring the failures and cracks in Kad and Olivier's careers, but this opportunity is sadly missed. Instead, the film opts for a more superficial approach, reheating old recipes identically, only highlighting the duo's loss of inventiveness.

The film's main flaw lies in its faulty comic mechanics. Excessive repetition, presented as second-rate, turns out to be an easy way out, depressing when it stretches a good idea beyond reason, unbearable when the gag was already bad the first time. The self-referential references, under the guise of nostalgic connivance, poorly mask the duo's creative dry-up. The scotch joke, hinting at an ounce of genius, is diluted into a self-referential potpourri that quickly becomes tiresome.

The weakness of the writing is evident in the phoned-in exits, the staging of the film in the making and the hackneyed jokes. The scene where Kad and Olivier, after an hour of film, explicitly realize that they still have half an hour to fill is symptomatic of this comic laziness. The self-mockery, while present, lacks depth and seems more a sign of comfort than genuine self-questioning.

One of the film's major disappointments lies in its unwillingness to tackle head-on the failures and cracks in Kad and Olivier's careers. Rather than questioning their present in the light of their past, the film prefers to lock itself into familiar patterns and fails to renew itself. The opportunity to transcend the flabbiness of the writing by exploring the psyche of the characters and the duo as a whole is lost.

Mais qui a re-tué Pamela Rose ?
Directed by Kad Merad, Olivier Baroux
Produced by Cyril Colbeau-Justin, Jean-Baptiste Dupont
Written by Kad Merad, Olivier Baroux, Julien Rappeneau
Starring Kad Merad, Olivier Baroux, Audrey Fleurot, Laurent Lafitte Guy Lecluyse, Omar Sy, Laurence Arné, Philippe Lefebvr, Alain Doutey, Arièle Semenoff, Lionel Abelanski, Patrick Bosso, François Morel, Xavier Letourneur, Alice Gingembre, Michel Feder, Jean-Paul Audrain, Jean-Michel Gratecap, Vincent Haquin, Charles Tallier, Jean-Pierre Durand, Arnaud Duléry, Stéphane Fourreau, Philippe Bruneau, Florence Maury, Jeanne Bournaud, Arno Diem, Guy Savoy, Paul-Antoine Veillon, Erwan Creignou, Philippe Chaine, Mathieu Poggi , Jean-Claude Tran, Donald Imm, Claire Chazal 
Music by Hervé Rakotofiringa
Cinematography : Régis Blondeau
Edited by Elodie Codaccioni
Production companies : LGM Cinéma, Gaumont, Nexus Factory, uFilm and SPAD Films
Distributed by Gaumont (France)
Release date : December 5, 2012 (France)
Running time : 90 minutes

Seen December 7, 2012 at Gaumont Disney Village, Room 01
Reviewed November 18, 2023

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