My favorite stream this week: the hilarious antics of ‘OSS 117’
My favorite stream this week: the hilarious antics of ‘OSS 117’
You’ll have to put up with subtitles to watch this send-up of 1960s spy movies, but I promise, it’s worth it.
I hope everyone had a restful holiday filled with good food, good family, and great TV shows and movies. I was fortunate enough to join a restful time off, and it was packed with new streams — including the final season of “Stranger Things.” And while I enjoyed the wrap-up of the show, I am steering as clear as I can from the inevitable debate over the ending, which accompanies every major TV show.
Instead, I decided to recommend my genuine favorite stream of the week. After being recommended this title by a friend, I want to turn as many fans of satire onto it as I can. I speak of “OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies,” a 2006 French-language comedy film starring Jean Dujardin of “The Artist” fame.
If that sounds like the last title you’d seek out if given the choice, I sympathize. But I promise you, if you’re at all a fan of 1960s spy movies like the James Bond franchise, the movie is a must-see. It features Dujardin as French secret agent Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, also known by his codename OSS 117. When his best friend and fellow spy Jack Jefferson disappears in Cairo, Hubert is sent to bring him home — only to blunder into a tangled web of international gamesmanship.
Hubert himself is everything a viewer would expect a secret agent to be: arrogant, suave, skilled in combat, and a dashing romantic…at least, on the surface. Once you spend any amount of time with him, you soon realize that France’s finest is really little more than a bumbling incompetent who relies mostly on luck — until it runs out.
The results are always hilarious, and the deeper OSS 117 falls into the nest of spies that is Cairo, the better he thinks he’s doing, despite evidence to the contrary. Dujardin’s expressive acting alone is enough to carry the movie, but the writing is snort-inducing in spots, and the film fills out its cast admirably with actors who know how to land a joke.
The movie is also packed with references to spy movies of days past, and fans of Bond and other characters will recognize a mountain of Easter Eggs in the movie. It’s a little more mature than the “Austin Powers” franchise, though some viewers may consider that a drawback.
“OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies” may not be for everyone. But if you can get past having to watch the film with subtitles, I can’t recommend the film highly enough to fans of satirical comedy, spy movies, or both. It’s streaming on OVID now, which viewers can watch with a subscription through Prime Video for $8 per month.
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