SMOKING CAUSES COUGHING (2023)

SMOKING CAUSES COUGHING (2023)

Tagline: This time, luck has nothing to do with it!

(Horror, Sci-Fi, Philosophical Stories) [R]

Note: This movie did not get an MPAA rating, or at least it didn’t have one as of this review. It definitely would have gotten a [R] for violence and profanity. 

In this one, a superhero group called the “Tobacco Force” goes around killing villains by literally giving them cancer with various ingredients from cigarettes. Apparently, the leader Chef Didier (who is a humanoid rat that slobbers green goo all the time) is a bit concerned about them getting too individualistic, so he sends them on a weekend retreat to bond before going to fight a villain named Lizardin who plans to destroy the entire planet. 

First off, it should be said that this movie is made by the same guy that did RUBBER. I remember seeing that movie and thinking it was pretty nuts, but also that it wasn’t what I was expecting, because I was thinking the tire would actually roll over people. Instead, it just kind of rolled around and used powers to make people explode. This movie is also “French” so if you are going to watch it, you will need to read subtitles if you don’t speak French. Anyway – in spite of its name, the “Tobacco Force” is actually anti-tobacco, but they use the negative powers of tobacco for good. In one of the opening scenes Benzene (one of the heroes) tells some kid that his dad is a loser because he smokes. 

This thing is shot a lot like a 90’s episode of “Power Rangers” only it’s a lot more adult and there is quite a bit of cussing and adult topics. There is a side story that Benzene tells that is about two couples that go on a retreat together (that seems to be a theme here) and one of the wives puts on a helmet and basically starts going crazy. Oddly she is exposing the same kind of crap a lot of public schools are teaching our kids. Kind of pondering her existence thinking she and everyone around her is a waste of time because all we do is start rotting away and dying from the moment we are born. She basically just skips that with faith in our savior Jesus Christ, we are only in a very small part of eternity, but given the opening song of this movie, I wasn't expecting a favorable view of God or any mention of God to begin with. Anyway, this chick is a piece of work. I don’t want to give away what happens but just know that this freakin movie is kind of all over the place. Another side story in the film is told by a fish that comes to life as they are cooking it for dinner.

In spite of how this looks on the surface, there is some gnarly gore in this and it’s pretty unsettling, but the fact that it’s so out there and handled in a comical way, it doesn’t land in the way a lot of gory stuff does. The pacing is decent and this movie moves right along, but by the end of it, the only character I liked was Mercure who is basically a selfless family man played by  Jean-Pascal Zadi. Everyone else is either really weird or really a big crybaby. Acting wise I could go through the cast but I really don’t know any of them from anything else. The score is pretty lame as is the soundtrack with probably one of the dumbest songs to open a movie in quite some time. 

Overall this was quirky enough for me not to hate it, but I didn’t like it either. My bottom 10 movies for 2023 by the end of the year might be a bunch of decent films because this year in movies has started off very solid. Having said that, unless some true garbage comes along this one might be part of that “WORST of 2023” list if some other total bombs don’t show up. 

I do have to give it a few points for being really bizarre, but you also have to actually finish your movie and this one doesn’t present itself as a complete film. I.e., it’s literally missing an ending. This one gets a 2 out of 7. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF CHI-FOU-MI PRODUCTIONS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.