Prenez la plus grande vedette comique française - de Funès - qui effectue son retour dans un rôle taillé sur mesure après trois ans d'absence. Adjoignez-lui un espoir venu du café-théâtre et du music-hall - Coluche - qui tient là son premier grand rôle au cinéma. Mitonnez-leur une histoire aux petits oignons où l'un serait le père de l'autre, où quiproquos et malentendus s'enchaînent sans discontinuer. Ajoutez-y un méchant d'anthologie - Tricatel, interprété par l'excellent Julien Guiomar. Placez enfin aux fourneaux un expert en artillerie comique, Claude Zidi (La moutarde me monte au nez, Les Ripoux). Résultat : vous obtenez l'une de ces comédies au fumet bien de chez nous dont on reprend volontiers une louche à chaque passage ! —Sylvain Lefort

Terence Stamp as a drag queen—an Aussie drag queen? Darling, you'd better believe it. In Stephan Elliott's delirious exercise in ultra-camp meets outback macho, Stamp plays an ageing trans-sexual who, with two of his equally high-glossed pals, heads off for a cabaret engagement in Alice Springs. Priscilla is their chosen vehicle, a school bus painted an outrageous purple. The culture-clash comedy that ensues is none too unpredictable: the local Ockers, initially contemptuous, soon find the spangled and bewigged trio can out-talk, out-drink and if necessary, out-punch them; everything ends in a warm glow of mutual tolerance and appreciation. Elliott maybe hits the feelgood button a little too hard, but it's impossible not to be swept along by the sheer brash energy of the film. The bitchy dialogue snaps and crackles, the costumes and Fellini-esque dance numbers are to die for, and Stamp and Co.—enjoying themselves no end—play the whole thing to the hilt and some way beyond it. —Philip Kemp

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the 8th Dimension is one of the most agreeably insane movies ever made. Peter Weller stars as Buckaroo, an acclaimed neurosurgeon, particle physicist, and, of course, rock star. He travels with the Hong Kong Cavaliers, a band of hard-rocking scientists who are also really good dressers. Buckaroo's interdimensional experiments with his Operation Overthruster throw him (and the Earth) straight into the middle of an alien war, and before you know it, he's got just a few hours to save the world. Confused? Hang on, we're only 10 minutes into the movie. Buckaroo Banzai hurls you right into the middle of its comic-book universe and keeps going at a breakneck pace. It's chock-full of overlapping jokes (even as we're trying to make sense of Dr. Lizardo's hospital room, a voice calmly announces that "lithium is no longer available on credit" over the PA system), hilarious throwaway dialogue ("You're like Jerry Lewis: you give me hope to carry on."), and weirdness just for the sheer joy of it ("Why is there a watermelon there?" "I'll tell you later."). You'll want to watch it at least twice—there's just no way to catch everything the first time around. Ellen Barkin has a terrific time doing a dead-on film noir moll parody as Penny Priddy, and John Lithgow turns in a brilliant manic performance as Dr. Lizardo/John Whorfin. There is no reason not to own this movie unless you are cold and dead inside. Laugh while you can, Monkey Boys. —Ali Davis