Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Moderate
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Mild
- witty
- frantic
- macabre
- classic comedy night
- French cinema evening
What critics said
Critics broadly praised Louis de Funès’s comic performance while finding Jean Girault’s direction weak and the film less effective than the actor’s usual successes.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Brisebard repeatedly relocates Riri's body as the pavilion foundation fails and visitors disrupt his plans.
The accidental shooting, unwanted guests, police scrutiny, and unstable hiding places continually compound Brisebard's predicament.
Brisebard consults attorney Colas about disposing of a body while ostensibly developing a crime play.
The country villa becomes the central arena for blackmail, concealment, police questioning, and unwanted houseguests.
Films like Joe: The Busybody, and why
The Trouble with Harry
physical comedy, escalating concealment problems, and a frantic protagonist trapped by criminal complications
Arsenic and Old Lace
black comedy built around murder, nervous deception, and increasingly farcical attempts to manage a corpse
The Dinner Game
French farce, high-energy comic performance, and a protagonist overwhelmed by chaotic domestic complications
Movie Details
- Director
- Jean Girault
- Release Date
- 1971-08-31
- Runtime
- 85 min
- Rating
- 7.2 / 10 (353)
Cast
- Louis de Funès
- Claude Gensac
- Michel Galabru
- Bernard Blier
- Guy Tréjan
- Ferdy Mayne
- Yvonne Clech
- Florence Blot
- Micheline Luccioni
- Christiane Muller
Common questions
- What is Joe: The Busybody about?
- A financially cornered playwright’s plan to silence a blackmailer becomes a delirious French corpse-concealment farce when an accidental shooting unleashes one disaster after another.
- What is Joe: The Busybody like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Joe: The Busybody as brisk, its intensity as moderate and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is Joe: The Busybody violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Joe: The Busybody as mild.
- What did critics think of Joe: The Busybody?
- Critics broadly praised Louis de Funès’s comic performance while finding Jean Girault’s direction weak and the film less effective than the actor’s usual successes.
- Which films are like Joe: The Busybody?
- Films with a similar feel include The Trouble with Harry, Arsenic and Old Lace, and The Dinner Game.
- How long is Joe: The Busybody?
- Joe: The Busybody runs 85 minutes.
