Sundance 2021 Review – ‘Fils De Plouc’, aka Mother Schmuckers

It’s been said that ‘it takes smart actors to play dumb characters’.  If so, Maxi Delmelle and Harpo Guit must have earned PhD’s from MENSA after starring in Mother Schmuckers!

The comedic duo star as brothers in one of the funniest, most bizarre comedies I’ve seen in quite a while, and for sure at Sundance 2021.

The Plot – Mother Schmuckers

Dumb and Dumber meets Dude Where’s My Car? in the style of Swingers.

Spoken entirely in French and set in Brussels, Mother Schmuckers centers around two of the dumbest characters seen on the big screen in quite a while. 

Maxi Delmelle plays the floppy-haired, Issachar, and Harpo Guit plays the shorter-haired, Zabulon; in a day-in-the-life look at two brothers whose hunger is only matched by their stupidity.  Issachar and Zabulon, full grown men who still live with their working girl Mother, Cashmere; open the film literally making hamburgers made from their dog’s fecal matter on the kitchen stove.  The stench quickly overwhelms everyone in the apartment, and an irritated Cashmere sends her sons to the store with her dog, January Jack, to get some food.

Issachar and Zabulon tie up January Jack outside the store after one of the employees refuses to let the dog inside.  The guys fill their shopping cart, despite having no money.  We meet Daniel, a rather rotund friend of their Mom’s. He offers to buy the groceries in exchange for being set up with Cashmere.  But, the guys so infuriate Daniel, even he walks away, leaving them to pay for the groceries themselves.

Issachar and Zabulon spend most of the film blankly staring into space and physically fighting each other.  As they wander through the store, their roughhousing gets so bad, the store employee, Zarma, chases them down, and takes them to the security office.  Instead of calling their Mom, they call their Magician friend, Choukri, who shows up with a video camera instead.

For whatever reason, Choukri takes the guys back to his house and gives them a gun, which they then start shooting on the streets.  By the time they get home, Cashmere asks them where the dog is.

The Good

When doing a ‘dumb’ comedy, clarity is key.  The stakes of Mother Scmuckers are always crystal clear.

Cashmere is livid that her sons lost her dog.  Issachar and Zabulon have lost January Jack, and must now find him, or get kicked out of the apartment.  The guys now wander around Brussels to find J.J., just like Dude Where’s My Car?. However, a scruffy terrier that loves biting wieners interests more than an inanimate car.

Along the way we meet Cashmere’s Madame/Pimp, Violetta; an undercover Cop; an ambitious and resilient singer with a car, Corentin; and the seemingly only normal human being in the film, the Dad.

The Journey

Like any great road trip/journey type film, each scene/side quest builds on the one prior.  Daniel shows up at Cashmere’s work in the Red Light District to profess his love.  The undercover cop stops the guys after they’ve shot up half of Brussels with the gun from Choukri.  Daniel falls out a two story window, only to laugh and run off like a cartoon villain. 

Cashmere enlists the undercover cop to find Daniel, while Choukri enlists the guys to shoot a music video. This, of course, goes off the rails.

Cinematography

The film is shot off the shoulder and in a naturalistic, guerilla-style around the city.  There are even scenes where normal people on the streets can be seen shooting the action on their phones as the guys fight in public.  This is similar in style to the way Doug Liman shot Swingers.  This style actually helps add to the chaos of Issachar and Zabulon’s minds and world as they try to get back their Mom’s dog.

Oddly, the aspect ratio of the film is 1.5 to 1, wider than the 4/3 of Standard Definition, but skinnier than the 16/9 of High Definition.   The unusual aspect ratio adds to the unease and feeling that something is slightly off.  We see it as if the movie we’re seeing isn’t being seen the way we normally see it.

I’ll leave the strangest plot points and character developments unsaid, but you may experience nausea more than once in the middle and end of Mother Schmuckers.

The Bad

I hesitate to put these in the ‘Bad’ category, but the film being in French, and having to read subtitles in a fast moving film, was distracting.  The language difference did not take away from the enjoyment and storytelling of the film, but the film moves so quickly, trying to keep up through the language barrier was a bit much.

The Review – Mother Schmuckers

The original French language title for Mother Schmuckers, ‘Fils De Plouc’, literally translates to ‘Redneck Son’.  The title makes even more sense, yet somehow isn’t quite as funny, than the English language title.

Overall, the film rests on the believability of Maxi Delmelle and Harpo Guit as these not-so-smart characters.  Make them too dumb, and you can’t laugh at them without feeling cruel.  Make them too aware, and the characters’ decisions and behaviors become less believable.  The portrayals are right down the middle of where they needed to be for the film to succeed.

Brotherhood…

In addition to playing Zabulon, Harpo Guit is Writer AND Director of the film with his real life brother, Lenny Guit.  How much of their real life relationship bleeds into Issachar and Zabulon’s relationship is unclear, but a genuine and real filial chemistry jumps off the screen.

Story elements brought up at the beginning of the film are almost all called back and resolved by the end.  Relationships between the supporting characters all feel real and organic for the working class, urban environment the movie is in.

The comedy bits are all solid and don’t feel recycled from other films.  The pacing, character development, and story all build from beginning to end.  Totally worth watching, and be sure to watch to the END of the credits to fully experience the film!  Funny flick!

Sundance Film Festival 2021 Movies Ranked

Additional Information

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13648232/

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