Albert est méchant

We watched this film in french television and the name of the director is Hervé Palud, the film made in 2004.

One of the main characters - Patrick Lechat (Christian Clavier) - is informed about the death of his father, a famous writer, with whom he hasn't had much contact during the years.

The father leaves a rather substantial fortune to the heirs, that is to say Patrick - and his half brother of whom he didn't know.

He decides to visit him in order to come to an agreement, not least as things are going bad at the work and both him and his wife are living over their means.

When meeting Albert Moulinot (Michel Serrault) - his half brother - he finds out that he's an excentric, leaving in a lodge in the forrest and living from trade-offs. He is not interesed in money and consequently not the heritage;
However, in order to straighten things out judicially, Albert have to come with Patrick to Paris to sign all the papers and this is not as easy as Patrick might have thought.
Coming to Paris, Albert stays with his half brother and their family but as he's an excentric and the wife of Patrick an upperclass woman, or at least wanting to live and act as such, this causes great problems - for everyone.

In spite of good actors I can't say that I found this story particularly amusing.
The jokes are foreseeable and it becomes somewhat of a slapstick movie but not as charming as such a film can be.
The actors exaggerate and this can sometimes work out well but in this case it doesn't add anything substantial to the way this story is presented.
The actors were also criticized for being to 'theatrical' in their acting and this might be correct as it truely feels like a theatre comedy, more suitable for the stage.