Payoff
Payoff
| 07 May 2003 (USA)
Payoff Trailers

Two very different cops are forced to work together...

Reviews
Konterr Brilliant and touching
Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.
Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
Claudio Carvalho In Marseille, the lazy and dirty police Detective Maxime "Max" Tavarès (Titoff) is assigned by Commissaire Cagnoty (Etienne Chicot) to work with Detective Carlos Gomez (Stomy Bugsy), who has just been transferred from Paris. Gomez has problem to accept the procedures of the corrupt Max and they investigate the apparent suicide of the accountant Lucino. The efficient Gomez finds a four leaf clover into Lucino's nose and they seek out his daughter, the stripper Paulina Lucino (Élodie Navarre), and who might be the killer. They stumble with two criminals in front of her building and they arrest them. When a hit-man posing of lawyer kills the two men in the district, Gomez and Max conclude that there is an informer in the precinct. Meanwhile they contact Paulina and she asks for protection and a painting of her mother that is on the wall of her father 's apartment. Meanwhile Max is pressed by the Internal Affairs to help in the investigation of his partner, who lives in a fancy and expensive house with his wife, two sons and his sister Gina (Noémie Lenoir) and is more corrupt then him. When they find an account book in Lucino's safe, Paulina is the only one that can decipher the document. However Max and Gomez decide to use the document to extort the powerful mobster lord Silvio Baginorelli (Philippe Lemaire) and raise money. Will they succeed in their intent?"Gomez & Tavarès" is a French film that does not work well, since the director is lost between crime and comedy genres, using the clichés of the genres. In addition, the unlikable characters that are amoral and dirty do not help to create empathy with any of them. The worst is that I saw this movie on VHS awfully dubbed in English. In the credits the viewer sees why Paulina was dying for having the painting. My vote is five.Title (Brazil): "Payoff – Acima da Lei" ("Payoff – Above Law")
gridoon2018 For anyone who thinks that Mike and Marcus are too arrogant, too egotistical, too uncaring about the consequences of their actions, etc., well, you haven't seen nothing yet - Gomez and Tavarès make those "Bad Boys" look like model police officers! Our "heroes" in this movie are two obnoxious, chronically dirty cops, who try to solve their case not so much because they believe in "justice", but simply to make some (illegal) money, and avoid being sent to jail by the Internal Affairs guys by giving them bigger fish to fry. Some viewers may feel that the unlikability of the leads gives "Gomez & Tavarès" an edge over similar American films, while others may feel that it makes it harder to enjoy. In either case, this "action comedy" contains relatively little action and relatively little comedy. The production is slick and the climactic helicopter vs. speedboat chase is a decent set piece, but nothing you haven't seen many times before. It's the striking, sexy, green-eyed Noémie Lenoir who provides the film's brightest moments. (**)
netresearch I never knew the French could make such cool movies. Laconic and violent, with obvious homages to the 1970s, "Gomez & Tavares" a.k.a. "Payoff" is full of action, blasts, and lots of fun. While the script may have some minor flaws around its edges (not grave though), this movie works just fine, with some fine acting, cool dialogue, excellent photography and brilliant editing (yes indeed!). The soundtrack (both the musical score and the sound effects track) deserves some a special mention for a job not just well done, but outstandingly done. This film looks and sounds much more expensive than it probably was. Even my girl-friend, The Brain, liked it, which I guess means that the movie is sort of smart. Never mind the signifier or the signified. This film is pure "parole". Enjoy.
FabZeFab Please, for your mental safety, stay far away from this awful movie! It's not even funny. Everything is failed. Director Gilles Paquet-Brenner tried to do like Michael Bay so he moved his camera at every image but he just managed to give us an headache. On stage, Titoff is not funny. On TV sets, he's just dumb. But on screen, it's catastrophic. He got dead cow eyes, he's unable to say a line with conviction,well i don't have enough words in English to tell you how Titoff is bad! The music is awful, the editing is terrible, the story has been written by a four years old kid,well, Gomez & Tavares, it's just a pain in the ass,the movie you don't want to see. Compare to it, VERCINGETORIX is a master piece!