Only a filmmaker with Quentin Dupieux’s unpredictable sense of humor could conceive a bizarre experience as Smoking Causes Coughing. I call him unpredictable because he has a penchant for weird, high-concept ideas, such as his sentient tire film Rubber, or his giant fly film Mandibles, and taking them to places completely devoid of any connection to the central premise. His films always leave you feeling unbalanced, but in a good way. They’re so funny and weird that you can’t help but enjoy the roller coaster.
Smoking Causes Coughing is a prime example of Dupieux at his incalculable best, because the concept is so mainstream it might draw in casual viewers who have never heard of him. And yet, what they’ll actually get is some wacko anthology shit. The film is basically a gonzo riff on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, opening with a vacationing family discovering a team of cheaply-costumed heroes in hand-to-hand combat with a giant turtle. Dupieux doesn’t try to amp things up here. It looks like a poor man’s Power Rangers for sure, including an enemy that is clearly just a guy in a turtle suit. But here’s the kicker: the team of five defeat their enemy by blasting it with a cancerous component in cigarettes, causing it to explode in a gusher of blood and guts. The team is actually the Tobacco Force, and their boss, Chief Didier (Alain Chabat), a talking rat whose mouth is constantly drooling green goo, wants them to go on a retreat to build team unity. In a week’s time, and the time is crucial, they are to reconvene and battle a megalomaniacal villain named Lezardin who plans to destroy the planet…on a schedule, apparently.
Dupieux even has some fun with the casting here. The Tobacco Force is played by French acting heavyweights who are typically in films of much higher prestige. Gilles Lellouch stars as Benzene, with Vincent Lacoste as Methanol, Anais Demoustier as Nicotine, Final Cut breakout Jean-Pascal Zadi as Mercure, and Oulaya Amamra as Ammoniaque. Does the team go away and find their vacay ruined by attacking foes? Not hardly. Instead, the bored, highly delusional, and in some cases lovelorn team sit around with absolutely nothing to do. Still suited up in their gear looking absolutely ridiculous, they try to scare one another with spooky stories of increasing absurdity. None are truly scary, but the first, which involves a married woman who puts on a massive “thinking helmet” that alters her personality drastically, is at least like something out of a quirky Happy Death Day-style horror-comedy. The tales that follow aren’t nearly as enjoyable, including a last one that is short and mundane. But that’s also kind of the point. They are all set in the real world as part of these people’s ordinary lives, making the team of superheroic avengers look kinda lame by comparison.
With guest appearances by Adele Exarchopoulos, Doria Tillier, and more, Smoking Causes Coughing just feels like Dupieux gathered some of France’s best actors to have a good time. The comedy and the performances feel so light and breezy, and Dupieux like he doesn’t have a care in the world where any of it goes. Dupieux is perfectly capable of using humor to seek out deeper meaning, but sometimes it’s worth it just to kick back and tell jokes that people can smoke a cigarette to.
Smoking Causes Coughing is open in theaters now.
