All Aboard!

(2021)

★ 5.2 IMDb · 100 votes

Genres: Comedy

Year: 2021

Runtime: 93 мин

Country: Belgium, France

Director: Benjamin Euvrard

Cast: Андре Дюссолье, Jérôme Commandeur, Jonathan Lambert, Anaëlle Othenin-Girard, Charly de Witte, Léo Dussollier, Marie-Julie Baup, Ferdinand Leclère, Melchior Guerlet, Celeste Evagora

Plot

Finally, the holidays are here! Vlad and his friends are so excited! Jérôme, Vlad’s father, is in charge. André, the grandfather of Jeanne and Basile, is also here to help. Six kids, two adults, an eight-hour train trip. Nothing could go wrong. But Jérôme and André miss the train… and watch it leave the station with the kids on board. It’s the beginning of a crazy race for the unlikely duo. While the unsupervised children go wild and have the time of their life, André and Jérôme go through various delays and adventures…

This is by no means a masterpiece but it is very funny and the acting is peerless from many of the main contenders; the duo of Jerome Commandeur (to me it rings like a made-up name and if you look in wiki there is no mention of Jerome's background elsewhere you find Italian mother French father born in Argenteuil; my personal reading (I am a portrait painter who lived in Algeria) is that Jerome is a nom-de-scène this incredibly gifted acteur monikered himself with so no one could tie him to forefathers in Biskra or Sidi Bel Abbes in a country which is still in 2021 very racist as re: Moghrebi roots. That is of no import but it seems it need be said and I could be wrong but hey)and André Dussolier from La Comédie Française an institution which is like a register of excellence; the only state theatre in France to have its own permanent troupe of actors. These 2 are the core but there are others too worthy of note. The long-haired boy they travel with is also excellent in all scenes as well as the drunk bachelor who thinks he is on a bachelor party commissioned by his mates (his facial acting at the end waiting for Seb); the bespectacled son of Jerome is also very funny and has the demeanour of one you will hear about when he gets olderThe tale is simple: it is a celebration of the multigenerational remembrance of SNCF night rides to the South in the hallowed months of July/August in the French summer calendar there is a montage of many slides photos and clips at the start of the film to set the scene and that is done very elegantly ...Not much else can be said about this film without spoiling your viewing so I will stop here; it is also a celebration of the beauty of the land .... France here is as many times in other French films a fully-involved actress too ...PS enjoy it if you are 8, 10, or 60 it is for any age.