Matroni et moi (1999) *

Directed by Jean-Philippe Duval. With Alexis Martin, Guylaine Tremblay and Pierre Curzi. First the good news: The dialogue is superb, expertly mixing pretentious intellectual mumbo-jumbo with down-to-earth, obscenity-ladden gangster lingo, and creating a delightful cacophony of verbal contrasts. But now the bad news: The film stinks, wasting its qualities on an idiotic plot, annoying characters and desperate jokes.