Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Louis-Philippe Fourchaume, another typical lead-role for French comedy superstar Louis de Funès, is the dictatorial CEO of a French company which designs and produces sail yachts, and fires in yet another tantrum his designer André Castagnier, not realizing that man is his only chance to land a vital contract with the Italian magnate Marcello Cacciaperotti. So he has to find him at his extremely rural birthplace in 'la France profonde', which proves a torturous odyssey for the spoiled rich man; when he does get there his torment is far from over: the country bumpkin refuses to resume his slavish position now the shoe is on the other foot, so Fourchaume is dragged along in the boorish family life, and at times unable to control his temper, which may cost him more credit then he painstakingly builds up...
A fairly standard Louis de Funès vehicle built around his trademark explosive-boss persona. The plot is a serviceable fish-out-of-water comedy with mild role-reversal charm, but it recycles familiar de Funès dynamics without pushing them into genuinely fresh territory. De Funès himself delivers his usual high-energy, rubber-faced performance which elevates the material above average, though the supporting cast is functional rather than remarkable. Cinematography is workmanlike for a late-1960s French comedy — competent location shooting in southern France but no visual ambition. Novelty is limited; the premise and execution follow well-worn French comedy conventions of the era, and de Funès had done similar domineering-boss routines more memorably elsewhere. The ending resolves predictably within genre expectations. A pleasant, moderately enjoyable entry in the de Funès canon rather than one of his standout works.