Just saw "A Pain in the Ass" on on-demand. Hilarious film (French with subtitles - I don't speak French and I still wonder why someone translated "Mierde, Mierde, Mierde" as "Damn, Damn, Damn". )

It should be. It's by the same guy who did La Cage aux folles, Le Dîner de cons (The Dinner Game), and Le Placard (The Closet), among others. You can always tell a Veber film because the loser lead is usually named François Pignon. Note: A Pain in the Ass is actually Veber remaking his own work. (Attention Hec!) The original L'emmerdeur starred Jacques Brel as Pignon.

BTW, merde is best translated as damn. It's a mild swear word; hence its acceptable use for "good luck" or "break a leg" in the theater.

I would have preferred more information about Reynolds' character's motivation.

For something in particular? I don't think he particularly wants anything for much of the movie.

re the whitefont: Well, for the second job, they certainly weren't going to tell him anything, much less care if he approved. But I would imagine he's always like that, because he doesn't want to be involved. He's just an independent contractor.

Reynolds or Gosling? Am confuse.

Ha, I didn't even register that. Gosling.

That reminds me of the Videogum fake interview with Gosling.

VG: It’s just really cool that Ryan Reynolds thinks I’m cool.
RG: Did you just call me Ryan Reynolds?
VG: Absolutely not. I would never do that.
RG: I think you did.
VG: If I called you Ryan Reynolds I would kill myself.
RG: That seems like a bit much.

[link]

Interesting. So even though literally "shit" the impact is more like "damn".

BTW, if I want to track down the original was it also called "A pain in the ass" not that Brel won't be enough to let me google and IMDB it, but if anyone knows offhand without needing to look it up...

Interesting. So even though literally "shit" the impact is more like "damn".

See also "Bugger". Actually, come to think of it, that does translate at both levels to "a pain in the arse".

megan, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't "con" and all its derivatives also much milder in French than their literal translations?

BTW, if I want to track down the original was it also called "A pain in the ass" not that Brel won't be enough to let me google and IMDB it, but if anyone knows offhand without needing to look it up...

No idea if it was released here. I think IMDB has it as L'emmerdeur.

"Con" et al is very versatile. It can mean everything from stupid to *sshole/b*tch depending on context and tone. I'm not sure I would use either con or merde in front of my elderly aunts, but either could easily occur in the office or similar setting without people thinking twice about it.

Strega,

I meant for life in general. The motivation for the last half of the movie is clear, but why does he live life like he does? I get it is supposed to be part of the masculine mystery, but I would have liked a bit more emotional connection.

Well, I don't think you can connect to him emotionally. It's sort of about that. He lives life as he does because it functions, and he doesn't need anything else. I took him as sociopathic, basically. Not sadistic, but he’s a career criminal who lives in a world where other humans are inherently dangerous. I thought the "Want a toothpick?" line was funny because it revealed how unsocialized he is.

You get a few hints like that about him, and obviously the jacket (which I do think got too anvil-y). But when he tells Irene that the couple of days he spent with her & the kid were the best of his life? I'm was sure that was true. And I don't think he'd have gotten drawn into that relationship at all if it weren't for the kid. I was sort of speculating about his background during the movie, so I looked up the book to check my guesses. I just skimmed a bit but in the novella you do learn that his father was a burglar who used him for jobs when he was little, then his mother killed his father in front of him, and after a few years in a foster home he hit the road. So...yeah.