A Pain in the Ass

A professional hitman checks into a hotel room to wait for his target to come into view. In the room next door, a man devastated by a failed relationship tries to take his own life, and the attempt goes badly wrong. When the noise threatens to draw attention to the job, the hitman decides he has to deal with his neighbour, a decision he soon regrets. The two men form an unlikely connection as the assassin's assignment and the other man's despair keep getting in each other's way. The film is a French comedy about two people sharing a wall at the worst possible moment.

Francis Veber directed and wrote the screenplay, with Patrice Ledoux producing. It is the tenth film Veber directed, following a run that began with La Chèvre in 1981 and includes The Dinner Game, The Closet, Ruby & Quentin and The Valet. Richard Berry plays the killer, Patrick Timsit the neighbour, and the cast also includes Pascal Elbé, Virginie Ledoyen, Laurent Paolini and Michel Aumont, with 27 credited performers in total. The film runs 86 minutes.

Released in 2008, the film had a budget of about 30 million dollars and took roughly 2 million dollars worldwide, a large gap between cost and return. On IMDb it holds 5.3 out of 10 from around 1,100 votes, and on TMDB 5.2 out of 10 from about 70 votes, placing audience opinion in modest territory.