From France with Love

The name Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath doesn’t quite ring so harmonically as the much brawnier-sounding James Bond. That and his even clunkier French secret agent code name goes with the territory in director Michel Hazanavicius’ espionage spy parody, OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies. Comic lead Jean Dujardin plays the bumbling Clouseau-esque agent whose doltish cultural ignorance is outmatched only by his oversexed, Austin Powers-like debauchery.

After a fellow agent’s murder, Bath lands an investigative gig heading a poultry firm in Cairo, all the while pacifying Muslim unrest (and failing miserably) and quelling the die-hard European colonialist arrogance in the Middle East. He’s a well-groomed half-wit but, damn it, Bath’s your smarmy homme boy. OSS 117 screens today and Thursday at 2 and 6 p.m. at Lake Worth Playhouse (713 Lake Ave., Lake Worth). Tickets cost $5 to $8. Call 561-586-6410, or visit www.lakeworthplayhouse.org.
Saturdays, 2008