Gaston Lagaffe (2018)

Prunelle returns from leave and finds the company “Au petitcoin,” a start-up he runs in the boss’s absence. The company specializes in creatively repurposing objects with manufacturing defects. A new intern, Gaston, keeps making blunders. Lazy, he is also very inventive when it comes to helping his colleagues, but his inventions and flights of fancy often end in disaster. In particular, he unintentionally causes the negotiations with Monsieur De Mesmaeker to fail several times. De Mesmaeker wants to buy this promising company for a very large sum, which would allow every employee to pocket a comfortable dividend. Prunelle nevertheless dares not fire Gaston, because a misunderstanding has led him to believe that Gaston is the boss’s son, hired anonymously by his father, who wants him to start at the bottom. In reality, however, the boss’s son—a young, ambitious man—is not Gaston but the cleaner. The company’s situation gets worse and worse, and Prunelle speeds up the work pace, even though the problems stem from decisions he makes too carelessly, distracted by Gaston’s many blunders. When the cleaner, exasperated by the disorder in the company, finally reveals his identity, Prunelle fires Gaston, who heads to a beach with Bertrand Labévue and Jules-de-chez-Smith-en-face. There he builds a sand lighthouse. Prunelle finally signs the sales contract with Monsieur De Mesmaeker, who takes over the bankrupt company for one euro and announces that the entire staff will be laid off. Meanwhile, Mademoiselle Jeanne, secretly in love with Gaston, calls him to say that his goldfish, Bubulle, is locked up without food. Gaston fits gas cylinders to his car and returns to the Au petitcoin headquarters in a matter of moments. While trying to save his goldfish, he causes a general flood that washes away the contracts. The company is saved, especially since a promotional video he made with Jeanne just before he was fired becomes a phenomenal success. Grateful, Prunelle appoints him intern for life. The film ends like a Woody Allen musical comedy: Gaston, Jules, and Bertrand play an instrumental rap track while the staff dance a choreographed routine. Meanwhile, a cargo ship has run aground on the beach, misled by Gaston’s lighthouse.