What a Mess!


What a Mess! is a 1995 farce comedy film of late post-Perestroyka era directed by Vladimir Menshov. The movie satirizes chauvinism, antisemitism and other ethnic tensions in the 1990s Russia. Valery Garkalin plays multiple roles as identical twins who were raised believing they belong to different cultures and races and used to look down on each other's.

Plot summary

While digging in the mine Unpromising in Yakutia an unprecedentedly large diamond was found. It is christened as the Savior of Russia. Officials proclaim that the sale of the diamond could pay for every Russian citizen to take a three-year-long vacation at the Canary Islands.
When the diamond is being transported to Moscow it is stolen by the crime boss Kozulskiy, who is then robbed by professional thief Vasiliy Krolikov.
For the remainder of the film, the plot revolves around Krolikov and his two other identical Multiple birth brothers. Krolikov is pursued by Kozulskiy's mafia and two Militsiya officers - Jean-Paul Piskunov and an unnamed lieutenant. At the end of the film Vasiliy discovers that there is a fourth brother, making all characters played by Garkalin at least quadruplets.

Cast