As I have always loved the Gaston comics of Franquin, I was curious how this would turn out. Unfortunately, it is a giant letdown.
First of all, Roger Miremont was a poor choice to play Gaston. He looks way too cool to convince us he's a loser like Gaston. The part of Léon Prunelle is somewhat better, but this Léon Prunelle is more downright annoying than the original. Anyway, in his defence can be said it is a difficult part to play in a film. Mademoiselle Jeanne is not entirely convincing either, while popular guy Yves has inexplicably changed into a black guy. Characters of the comics return in the film, but have different names, like Mercantilos instead of De Mesmaeker (even Gaston is called 'G.'). Probably has something to do with rights.
The second problem is that the writer tried to create a comedy of something that exists entirely of gags. Of course: for film you need characters and story lines, but in this case, it is hardly possible to combine the two. And it doesn't work: the story is poor, the characters stay shallow and the gags aren't nearly as funny as in the comics of Franquin. I think if the comedy part had been less silly, it could have worked.
The only convincing part is how they remade the typical Gaston attributes for the big screen, like his car (that is actually pretty good), his 'gaffophone', the tricks with the parking tickets, the contracts of De Mesmaeker, the inventions, the infamous archive, and so on.
Better to read the comics (again).
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