The Shiny Shrimps (15)***
Directors: Maxime Govare, Cedric Le Gallo
Stars: Nicolas Gob, Alban Lenoir, Michael Abiteboul
Runtime: 103 mins
While not based on a true story as such, this well-meaning French comedy was inspired by real-life gay water polo team Les Crevettes Pailletees - the Shiny Shrimps. Co-director Le Gallo was a member and uses his experiences with them as a jumping off point for a funny but ramshackle tale that could have done with a bit more care in the storytelling department.
When swimmer Matthias (Gob) makes a homophobic remark during an interview and is threatened with expulsion by his federation, as punishment he must agree to train the Shrimps or face not being allowed to compete in the upcoming championships. The team are rubbish, and we never actually see them training or getting any better, but off we go anyway to the Gay Games in Croatia.
Matthias isn’t really much of a character, while his training input seems to involve little more than shouting at them, and the film doesn’t do a great job of establishing how he feels to be involved. Initially he’s in it for his own selfish reasons, which is fair enough, but then he starts to care, then he hates being around them. It’s all just a bit inconsistent and under-written so it’s left to the Shrimps to provide viable plot lines - these take in illness, secrets and chaotic home lives, with one member constantly having to pretend to his husband that he’s in business meetings proving especially amusing.
Even so, there are a few too many diversions as the film turns into a road trip and it’s certainly a touch long. While some dramatic situations feel manufactured, complicated issues are handled with humour and a matter of factness, touching on gradations of bigotry, who can say what and trans rights.
Ultimately, The Shiny Shrimps is a movie that survives on its laughs and its message as opposed to particularly well made content. It’s a feel-good crowd pleaser that’s mostly content to play to the cheap seats and while all a bit low rent, it’s funny enough and good-hearted enough to overcome its deficiencies, which is just about enough to get by on.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here