During the last forty years France has seen at least three comedy ensembles graduate from boulevard theatre or television to the big screen and if Splendid has the best track record in terms of both ensemble films - le pere noel est un ordure, les bronzes - etc plus individual actors - Thierry Thermitte, Josiane Balasko, Gerard Jugnot, michel blanc, ann-marie chazal, actor/writer/director - Balasko, Blanc, Jugnot, this is not to say that the likes of Les Nuls (Alain Chabat) and Les Robins des bois (Marina Fois, Jean-Paul Rouve) were chopped liver. City of Fear marked the big-screen debut of Les Nuls and it turned out to be an auspicious debut in every way. It is, of course, very French so that many of the verbal gags will be lost on non-French speakers who rely on subtitles but against that there are lots of sight gags which are, of course, International. Time will tell if it holds up as well as, say, Le Pere Noel but it certainly works the first time around.
