Film

Yes we can

Name: Yes we can
Genre: Comedy, TV Movie
Released: 2012
Cast: Vincent Desagnat, Loup-Denis Elion, Jenny Mutela, Michael Kirch, Nicholas Dallas

Comedy
Heist
Light-hearted

A French comedy about a gang of bumbling criminals who attempt to kidnap President Obama's grandmother in Kenya, only to have their plans collapse under the weight of their own incompetence. It's a goofy, physical farce that leans hard into slapstick and mistiming, with the absurdist energy of a European caper filtered through sheer chaos. For anyone who loves comedies where the joke is watching smart people fail spectacularly at dumb things.

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The Pink Panther1963

Clouseau's bumbling investigation shares the same DNA: a protagonist so committed to failing that failure becomes its own kind of genius. Physical comedy, impeccable timing, and the romance of beautiful incompetence.

But The sequels wore the formula threadbare, and without Sellers' particular magic, the premise can feel thin and repetitive.

Rififi1955

A masterclass in caper storytelling—stylish, clever, and genuinely tense. If you want to see what a heist film can be when every frame is controlled and purposeful, this is the template.

But It's French New Wave noir, so it's slower and more austere than a comedy. The mood is elegant, not funny.

Johnny English2003

Rowan Atkinson playing an incompetent spy who stumbles through a plot with infectious enthusiasm. It's lighter fare, but it nails the collision of wannabe competence and accidental success.

But The sequels are increasingly tired, and the first film trades subtlety for broad gags that don't always land.

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The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Cameraman1928

Both films make their central joke the protagonist's refusal to admit defeat. Keaton falls down a building and gets back up; these criminals keep trying despite mounting evidence they should stop.

A silent comedy about an incompetent cameraman competing for a job and a girl. Buster Keaton's physicality and timing are so precise they make bumbling look like ballet. It's the ancestor of everything you love about slapstick.

But It's silent. Some viewers find the restoration quality distracting, and the comedy rhythm is completely different from what modern audiences expect.

Zulu1964

A siege film with real stakes and genuine spectacle, but also darkly funny about the gap between imperial pretension and human reality. Epic in scale while remaining intimate.

But It's primarily a war drama, not a comedy, and some of the attitudes toward colonialism feel dated and uncomfortable now.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels1998

Interconnected criminals, each more incompetent than the last, colliding in London. Sharp writing, ensemble chemistry, and the kind of fast-paced editing that makes chaos feel choreographed.

But Very British, very aggressive, and the overlapping plots can feel exhausting rather than clever if you're not in its wavelength.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels poster

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid1969

Newman and Redford as charming outlaws who talk their way through problems they can't solve. It's funny, stylish, and makes failure look cool, with genuine chemistry between leads.

But It's a Western from the 1960s, so the pacing is deliberate and the tone uneven between comedy and tragedy.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid poster

The Ladykillers1955

Ealing Studios' final masterpiece: criminals posing as musicians, outsmarted by a landlady at every turn. The script is razor-sharp and the cast is perfect.

But It's a period piece, and the cultural context feels very specifically British postwar. The humour is dry.

O Brother, Where Art Thou?2000

The Coen Brothers send three escaped convicts on a picaresque journey through Depression-era Mississippi. It's visually gorgeous, funny, and has a folk-ballad soul that makes failure poignant.

But The dialogue is so stylized and the pace so unhurried that it can feel precious. The plot is deliberately episodic and slight.

Marauders2016

A crew of bank robbers keeps getting tangled up with each other and with cops. It's a tight, fun little heist film with solid performances and genuine surprises in the plot.

But It's a fairly straight crime thriller, not primarily funny. The cast is solid but not extraordinary, and it can feel like a film you've seen before.

The A-Team2010

Both follow working-class men trying to get ahead through crime and losing spectacularly. But where 'Yes We Can' is farcical, this is elegiac—same engine, completely different music.

A Portuguese film about small-time crooks in Lisbon trying to pull off one last score. It's darkly funny, beautifully shot, and treats its failures with a kind of melancholy grace. Criminally underseen.

But Very slow, very European, very focused on mood and character over plot momentum. The comedic register is understated and sad.

The Informant!2009

Both explore what happens when ego, stupidity, and circumstance collide to produce failure. Here it's at a global corporation; there it's in a Kenyan village. The mechanism is identical: the protagonist ensures their own undoing.

Matt Damon plays a whistleblower whose self-sabotage is so consistent and absurd you realize it's not accident—it's who he is. Soderbergh's bright, pop-inflected direction makes corruption look almost fun until it becomes tragic.

But It's a corporate crime thriller disguised as a comedy. The tone shifts are deliberate but jarring, and the ending is dispiriting rather than triumphant.