French Film Festival (8) - Barrie Pattison is much amused by the new Danny Boon movie RADIN!/PENNY PINCHER

Radin!/Penny Pincher makes a welcome break from the solemn material the French Film Event has been delivering.

In the womb, baby Dany Boon hears his mum berate his dad for buying useless items. Grown, he becomes congenital tight wad Dany, living in a Jacques Tati cul de sac where the neighbours graffiti hate messages about him on the fencing. He outrages the super market queue doing his own calculations on the discount coupons, uses his banker as a therapist and plays violin in the orchestra where he avoids going away present collections.

His date with fetching cellist Arné turns into a disaster when her digestion won’t tolerate the ethnic meal he has set up against overdue teaching fees and he is faced with a fish restaurant  bill (he orders individual whelks) until he sets off their sprinkler system.

Abruptly Dany finds his life disrupted by the arrival of daughter (cut price condom) Noémie Schmidt. This gets us into a new set of routines - red Post It warnings on all the appliances when she rents a room with an air bed from him, housing the neighbour evicted over his revolving mortgage along with his tribe of kids and setting a new record as first violin on the charity performance of "The Four Seasons".

Schmidt believed her mum’s story that Dany was supporting a Mexican orphanage and spreads this, making Dany a local hero and putting him in the position of writing a cheque for a benefit where he has become the guest speaker.

However all is not what it seems and we get the welcome sunny double switch ending.

Boon is totally in his element and handling by Polar thriller specialist Cavayé is precise – superior, like the performances of an unfamiliar cast.

Flawless feel good entertainment. Put me down now for Raid dingue the next Dany Boon.