Picture: Netflix
Featuring French star Vincent Cassel in a somewhat rare comedic role, Banger explores the French electronic scene through a battle of DJs caught up in an international criminal ring… And a French intelligence officer is hiring one of them to bring the gang down. But does this off-the-wall look at the French club scene carry the weight of its expectations?
Bertrand de Langeron, also known as SoMe, is a mainstay in the globally known French club scene, who has exploded in the late 90s under the name “French touch” with such chart-toppers as Daft Punk or Cassius. As a longtime graphic designer for Ed Banger Records, the longtime home of other famous French acts such as Justice or Breakbot, De Langeron has seen his fair share of craziness and ego-trips behind the scenes. And now he has the opportunity to turn it into a Netflix original movie, his first time behind the camera from a script he has co-written. The pitch is quite simple: Scorpex (Vincent Cassel), an aging DJ who remains a one-hit wonder from a single he made 15 years ago, is plucked from obscurity by Rose (Laura Felpin), a French intelligence officer who intends on bringing down an international criminal ring linked to star DJ Vestax (Mister V). Her insane idea : use Scorpex as an asset to infiltrate the entourage of Vestax and identify the head of the ring, whose physical appearance has been changed by plastic surgery. What’s in it for Scorpex? Outside of not losing his plush Paris apartment due to tax evasion, a return to glory in the shadows of Vestax and the promise of another “banger” to turn clubs around the world upside down. He even names the operation he takes part in… “Banger“.
From the opening sequence, you can tell the director wants to make a satirical comedy in the vein of This Is Spinal Tap without the mockumentary form. Vincent Cassel lends his quick wit and natural intensity to play a self-absorbed DJ, prone to showing everybody he’s still got “it” to rock the dancefloors, most of all his daughter (played by Nina Zem), who is an aspiring DJ herself. Alas, once he is snatched by a demanding, somewhat despicable antigang crew to be a mole into his enemy’s entourage, Banger struggles to make a cohesive movie. It signals that it doesn’t take itself too seriously, but like some current French comedies, it can be seen more like a buffet of skits sending up aspects of the French DJ scene rather than a delirious, unhinged trip promised by the pitch.
Banger sure has a lot of quality elements to work with, including a who’s who of the French stand-up scene, including cameos by Paul Mirabel and Panayotis Pascot. But as the film gets even more ridiculous, the jokes wear thin, including jokes about penis-sized scenography and a drug bender that goes on way too long and is straight up of a late 1990s movie. Banger does not seem to know what story it wants to tell, even though it is based on two comedy mechanisms that are known to work : an unlikely comeback story for a self-absorbed loser craving the limelight, and an infiltration story featuring an oblivious character that is way in over his head. The frenemy relationship between Scorpex and Vestax does not quite work, as Mister V struggles to make his “golden boy” DJ character as ridiculous as Cassel, stretching his presence thin. As a bald hothead associate nicknamed Molotov, Alexis Manenti almost steals his sequences by indulging in maniacal ideas and veiled threats, including a bit where he pretends to be dead to test Scorpex.
The movie seems to find its footing when it tells us about the headaches it takes to make a “banger” song in the studio, when you have elements forced down your throat like a singer who was imposed by the head of the crime organization. Alas, the sequences also seem to overstay their welcome and wear quite thin as they play. All of this builds into quite a forgettable finale, which tries to amp up the ridiculousness and physical comedy without earning it. Most of all, Banger seems to overlook its main “pros” for this kind of project: playing with the scale offered by a Netflix project, where even the club scenes seem rushed, with an elaborate “entrance” for the character of Vestax that ends up only being amusing. And mostly: the music, which is offered by Belgian legends 2manydjs. Their pulsating score is mostly used in the background, or to send-up EDM beats to make the characters go crazy… Another missed opportunity.
The cast of Banger: Mister V as Vestax, Vincent Cassel as Scorpex, and Laura Felpin as Rose.
Banger seems to play like a private joke between friends who want to make each other laugh : SoMe’s associates pop up at several points in the movie, including Ed Banger Records boss Pedro Winter and director Romain Gavras. But it remains quite unfocused and a movie with diminishing returns: while Vincent Cassel can have comedic chops and has good one-liners, the writing lets him down. Nonetheless, the movie has a lot of appeal given the comedic talent on display, including appearances by French stars Manu Payet, Paul Mirabel, and Nicolas Maury.
Watch Banger If You Like
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MVP of Banger
Laura Felpin
Even if the role of Rose, who is apparently the only one inside the French intelligence services to really have a pulse on club culture, eventually wears thin, Laura Felpin breathes a lot of energy and presence into it. Her frustrations with the obnoxious character of Scorpex are one of the reliable comedic mechanisms of Banger, and even if the result is uneven, it gives a good showcase for up-and-coming star Felpin. Her rise on the French stand-up scene has been complemented by appearances in Disney+ French smash hit Bref.2, as well as within an ensemble of the second season of Canal+ comedic franchise Le Flambeau, a Bachelor-like parody loosely based on American comedy Burning Love.
While Scorpex hates DJs who pre-program their sets, Banger feels as predictable and uneven as a demo of a song posted as a final version.
