“People are at their most desperate when they are working at enjoying themselves: it is Jacques Tati's peculiar comic triumph to have caught the ghastliness of a summer vacation at the beach. Fortunately his technique is light and dry slapstick: the chronicle of human foibles and frustrations never sinks to the moist or lovable. As director, co-author, and star, Tati is sparse, eccentric, quick. It is not until afterward - with the sweet, nostalgic music lingering - that these misadventures may take on a certain depth and poignancy.”