Comedy of Power

It's not often that you see the craft of cinema so perfectly executed--or a group of fancy scoundrels so ruthlessly caught and skewered. Comedy of Power, like all of Chabrol's Hitchcockian films, is dark, smart and delicious.

In many ways a meandering film, a collection of good scenes.

One of Claude Chabrol's most satisfyingly astringent films in years.

Title notwithstanding, there's nothing particularly funny about this political drama from the tireless Claude Chabrol.

An enjoyable but curiously weightless trifle that lowers rather than raises the temperature of the affair. Comedy of Power has to be the most polite, untroubled conspiracy film since the genre first tapped a phone.

Chabrol has fashioned a mystery that caves in on itself, but unfortunately, it caves in on the audience, too.

The movie is too parochial for a wide audience. The French judicial system is totally alien to Americans, for instance, plus the film is a talkathon.