Contains a partial spoiler at the end with a warning line as a comment about another review...

I found this a delightful, fun and entertaining French movie about a masterful and highly convoluted confidence crime (or crimes). Thanks TF1 et al for a fun and entertaining movie! I'm recommending this one to friends for light entertainment.

I feel it is well cast, has some fine contemporary actors/actresses and I believe they play their characters well. I feel an easy-going style, fun, light-hearted portrayal to the characters that plays well in the overall style of story. This is, after all, light-hearted pure entertainment. I can imagine the characters fun to portray and this film fun to make.

The scenery and setting are bright and up-scale. Nothing is dreary or drab, adding to the overall light-hearted and delightful feel.

I feel the reveals are well paced and will not give away too much or too little (at least for me) right up to the end. The pace seems right to me. It felt quick but not rushed. It kept moving and left me little time to ponder deeply, something I feel appropriate for this type of movie.

There is virtually no action in this movie, it is all comedic drama with what I feel is well-paced tension and relief.

Some dialog is in English, some in French. I've not been able to figure that one out, since all the characters speaking English are supposedly French. The English dialog has some Anglicisms recognizable to me (e.g. a "fiver") but may not be to some in the US and the English accents British or Canadian. The English (I'm not a francophone) subtitles for the French dialog seem very natural with the characters and what little French I know although I can't speak for the total accuracy of the translation. This is one of the easiest subtitled movies to watch I've seen, and I tend to browse the foreign film sections of video stores and rentals more than any other section.

I think all but the most naive viewers will start realizing what is really happening very close to the end, but not too soon to spoil the ending. I think the writers, director and cast have all made viewers' reveal timing nicely elastic and not brittle.

Partial Spoiler Alert....

One reviewer felt that no group would do anything this elaborate just to leave _____ out in the Mediterranean in a boat out of gas and found that too far outside the realm of suspended disbelief for comfort. I believe that review completely misses the strongly implied impending mortal revenge about to take place off camera and just past the movie's time line. But, I may be willing to suspend disbelief for this form of entertainment a little more than that reviewer. As with all movies of this type, the intricacy of the scheme hatched is far beyond what anyone would sensibly rely on in real life.

End Partial Spoiler...

The comparison is fateful - for better (as "unavoidable") and worse (as "suicidal"). The main fault lays in the characters (none has the perverse charm of Gondorff and Hooker) and in those parts of the script that depict the heists (not by far as ingenious as in the best movies of the genre, but neither as hair-pulled and flat as in the "Ocean..." series). Fortunately, the direction is fast-paced and stylish, so this saves the day more or less. And... okay, I won't spoil the ending, but one thing should be stated: it's totally unlikely. You do NOT pull such an elaborate farce, ONLY to send (...) screaming in a motor boat without fuel in the middle of the Mediterranean.

Further, the perpetual use of the trick "I'm not who you thought me to be" is hugely abused of, reminding rather of "The Pirates of the Caribbean". What really stands is the sparkling direction and the old-fashioned style, nostalgically recalling the end of the Seventies. For such a merry flick, it's positively refreshing.

Other reviewers have noticed the similarities between C$SH and OCEANS ELEVEN (2001) or OCEANS TWELVE (2004). To this list we might add some caper films of the Sixties, including the original OCEAN'S ELEVEN (1960) or Ronald Neame's GAMBIT (1966) and Peter Collinson's THE Italian JOB (1969).

All the familiar elements are here: exotic locations in Monaco as well as the south of France; sun-kissed beaches and luxury hotels; the deep azure blue of the Mediterranean; iconic cars; and a stellar cast clearly enjoying themselves with Éric Besnard's script.

The plot is basically irrelevant - suffice to say that small time conman Cash (Jean Dujardin) pits his wits against Mr. Big Maxime - Dubreuil (Jean Reno). It seems that Cash's endeavors are doomed to fail, as Maxime not only has power but wealth and guile as well. Cash teams up with enthusiastic police officer Julia (Valeria Golino), whose understanding of the difference between right and wrong appears tenuous at best, and together they set about trying to place a sting on Maxime. The action comes to a climax at a luxury seaside hotel, with the protagonists fighting to secure an attaché case full of expensive and unregistered diamonds.

Also involved in the gallimaufry are Ciarán Hinds and Joe Sheridan as a pair of native English speakers involved with the French police force; their grasp of both languages is highly competent - far more so than their professional abilities.

The effect of watching C$SH is rather like playing with a series of Chinese boxes; nothing is quite what it seems. The 'good' characters turn out to be corrupt' the 'bad' characters are not quite as black-hearted as we might first assume. But director Éric Besnard isn't much interested in morality; he invites us to admire the ingenuity of the various cons instituted by the various characters. This is a world where only the fittest - and the most astute - survive.

A highly enjoyable film, with a series of ingenious shot-structures (especially the use of split-screen techniques) recalling those days of the "Swinging Sixties" when everyone seemed so much more carefree than they do today.