MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Goliath’s’ Comedy Falls Short of the Mark

There’s an obvious biblical analogy at work in the French comedy import “Levy and Goliath” (Monica). This antic contest of wills pits Levy (Richard Anconina), a Hasidic Jew, against Goliath (Maxime Leroux), a towering enforcer of the Parisian drug trade. The improbability of this clash is immediately intriguing. But the film’s creators fail to fully capitalize on the many comic possibilities in this collision of cultures, mores and sensibilities.

The plot turns on three kilos of cocaine that bear more than a passing resemblance to a comparable weight of diamond dust. Levy, who works in the hub of Antwerp’s buoyant gem trade, is assigned to take a shipment of the aforementioned dust (used as an abrasive in heavy industry) to a French client. However, during the train ride to the City of Light, the drug courier, sensing a rapidly closing police dragnet, secretly spirits her illicit cache into Levy’s bag.

Goliath, who’s waiting at the end of the line, is tipped to the identity of the unsuspecting trafficker but, as luck would have it, nabs the wrong Hasid.

The film’s opening section perfectly establishes the dilemmas to come. It’s a match between unreasoned might and thousands of years of rational tradition. As in any good fairy tale, the final outcome is inevitable. So getting there should be the basis of virtually all the fun.

Unfortunately, the story lacks the pace of a madcap romp. Once we know the dos and don’ts of this Jewish sect, the jokes ahead become all too obvious. Also slowing down the narrative is an underlying liberal sentimentality. Levy, in the mind of the film makers, must be reconciled with his religiously errant brother and show good fellowship with an Arab woman. His personal changes are much belabored without establishing what’s behind his new-found understanding.

The people behind “Levy and Goliath” (Times Rated: Family) are--surprisingly--the same who back in 1973 so successfully depicted how an inveterate bigot saw the light in “The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob.” Their new outing proves that lightning, let alone biblical heroes, rarely strikes twice.