La famille Pont-Biquet: A loud French farce that’s actually kind of funny.

Is it worth your time?

You should watch this if you've got a soft spot for 1930s French nonsense. If you can't stand people yelling in black and white, maybe skip it. 🤷‍♂️

It’s a movie for people who like theatre energy. If you want something deep, go look at Wild and Wicked instead.

The whole thing starts with the dad, who is a judge. He is very deaf. 👂

Paul Pauley plays him with this look like he's always five seconds behind the conversation. It’s a classic trope, but he makes it work by looking genuinely confused every time someone slams a door.

Then there is the mother. Alice Tissot is a force of nature here.

She is so angry and loud that I actually turned my volume down twice. She moves around the set like she’s trying to break the floorboards with her heels.

The son-in-law is the one who really kept me watching. Armand Bernard has one of those faces that just looks funny even when he isn't doing anything. 🤡

He has this physicality that reminds me of the chaos in Running Wild. He spends a lot of time looking like he’s about to have a heart attack because of the family secrets.

The plot is about an "ingenious" son who has a mistress. I didn't find him that ingenious. 🙄

Mostly he just looks worried and hides behind furniture. The mistress subplot feels a bit tacked on, like they needed an excuse for more people to hide in closets.

I noticed the sets look very thin. Like, if someone actually hit a wall, the whole house would probably fall down. 🏚️

There is a scene where the son-in-law is trying to explain a lie to the deaf judge. The judge just keeps nodding and saying "yes" to all the wrong parts.

It goes on for about three minutes too long. You can feel the actors waiting for the next cue.

The way they talk is so fast. It’s that old-school French style where everyone is trying to win an Olympic medal for words per second.

I liked the weirdly empty hallways in the judge's house. It makes the movie feel a bit lonely even though everyone is screaming. Empty space in old movies always feels a bit spooky to me, even in comedies.

There is a moment where Gina Manès shows up and the energy changes. She has this screen presence that makes everyone else look like they are trying too hard.

It’s not as grand as something like The King of Paris, but it has its own small charm. It feels like a movie made by people who just wanted to have a loud weekend.

The ending happens so fast I actually had to rewind it to see who ended up with who. It’s like the director realized they only had two minutes of film left and just stopped.

One reaction shot of the mother lingers so long it becomes funny. She just stares at the camera with this dead-eyed expression for no reason.

I probably missed some of the puns because my French isn't great, but the shouting is universal. You don't need a degree to understand a man falling over a chair.

Is it a masterpiece? No way. 🙅‍♀️

But it’s a good artifact. It’s a slice of what people thought was hilarious in 1935.

The son's mustache is also very distracting. It looks like it was glued on five minutes before the cameras started rolling. 👨🏻

If you like movies that feel like a messy family dinner where everyone is drunk, this is for you. If you like quiet movies about feelings, avoid it like the plague.

It’s loud, it’s messy, and the judge’s ear trumpet is basically a supporting character. I didn't hate it. ✌️

• The deaf jokes get old but Paul Pauley is charming.
• Alice Tissot might be the loudest woman in cinema history.
• The son-in-law's pants are high-waisted even by 1930s standards.
• Some scenes feel like they were filmed in one take because someone was in a hurry.

I think I liked the accidental stuff more than the scripted jokes. Like when a character almost trips over a rug and just keeps going. That felt real.

Anyway, it's a fine way to spend an hour if you're bored. Just don't expect it to change your life.