Quartile rating: 5.5/10 · 1 rating
Choukri, alias Chouchou, a transvestite Maghrebi with clear eyes, comes illegally to Paris to find his nephew. Hired as an assistant by a psychotherapist, known for his good mood, he also work as a waiter in a transvestite cabaret of Clichy where he meets Stanislas.
Chouchou is a broad French comedy built around Gad Elmaleh's cross-dressing performance, which carries much of the film's charm. The plot is thin and episodic, relying heavily on fish-out-of-water and mistaken-identity gags without much narrative depth. Cinematography is functional at best, typical of mainstream French comedy of the era. Novelty gets a slight bump for its Maghrebi-immigrant-transvestite protagonist lens on Paris, a fairly distinctive combination even if the comedy itself is conventional. The ending wraps up tidily but without much impact. Overall a modestly entertaining but forgettable crowd-pleaser.