A group of vigilantes called the “tobacco-forces” is falling apart. To rebuild team spirit, their leader suggests that they meet for a week-long retreat, before returning to save the world.

Quentin Dupieux has made a career out of making idiosyncratic, wacky movies, with previous efforts including the story of a sentient killer car tyre (‘Rubber’) and a sentient killer jacket (‘Deerskin’) – yes, he has carved out a strange niche! His latest, ‘Smoking Causes Coughing’, shares the brevity of those two movies (this clocks in at 77 minutes) and the same off the wall stylings, but is more of an anthology tale with several comedic excerpts that interrupt the ‘main’ plot.

‘Smoking Causes Coughing’ centres on a group of superheroes known as the Tobacco Squad, who look and feel like a pastiche of the Power Rangers (was Power Rangers a thing in France? Who knows!). After defeating a giant turtle, their boss (who is a giant drooling rat called Chief Didier – this is funnier than it sounds!) sends them on a mandatory retreat to recharge their batteries ahead of an impending battle with Lézardin, a villain who wishes to destroy the entire planet. On the retreat, the group bond with one another by telling bizarre stories from their pasts, which form the basis of the anthology elements of the movie. This is one of those films that is almost set up to be divisive – I expect some people will be put off by the weirdness, but for those that embrace it this is a bonkers movie that delivers plenty of laughs and I laughed pretty consistently throughout.

I think one of the reasons it worked for me is because Dupieux leans into the absurdity of the premise, the more absurd the better, and the balance is struck right between comedy and violence. It reminded me a little of the Australian spoof spy TV series ‘Danger 5’, or even Britain’s very own ‘Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace’ in how it leverages cheap effects and offbeat humour to great effect, and at 77 minutes it avoids falling into the trap many comedies do of outstaying its welcome. Not since the riotous Argentinian anthology ‘Wild Tales’ has a comedy anthology hit the mark quite so well. If you get the chance to see this (especially on a Friday/Saturday night with an audience – which may be a hard for a niche French film!) then go and check it out!

Rating: 4/5

Directed By: Quentin Dupieux

Starring: Gilles Lellouche, Vincent Lacoste, Anaïs Demoustier, Jean-Pascal Zadi, Oulaya Amamra, Adèle Exarchopoulos, David Marsais, Grégoire Ludig, Doria Tillier, Jérôme Niel, Blanche Gardin, Alain Chabat and Benoît Poelvoorde

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt15471560/