Quartile rating: 4.5/10 · 1 rating
Didier Travolta is a 40-year-old disco music fan who has no job, lives with his mother, and has a son he hasn't seen for a while. The mother of his son refuses to send him their son for the holidays unless he can offer him a real vacation, not just going to bars of the French port city of Le Havre. Penniless, the only way he can see his son is by winning a dance contest organized by his friend Jackson, with the prize of a vacation to Australia for two.
Disco (2008) is a lightweight French comedy with a fairly formulaic premise — a lovable loser with a passion for dance trying to win a contest to reconnect with his son. The plot follows well-worn underdog-competition beats with little subversion. Acting is competent but unremarkable, fitting a broad comedy of this type. Cinematography is functional and workmanlike, nothing visually distinguished. Novelty is modest — the disco-dancing angle in a Le Havre setting gives it a minor local flavor, but the overall conception is derivative of countless similar competition comedies. The ending lands predictably in line with the genre's conventions. A middling, inoffensive crowd-pleaser that doesn't excel in any particular dimension.