Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

I kept hoping to find something in the story line to really grab me, to elicit some genuine interest, a sense of mystery, a desire to care. Frankly, the one thing that got my juices flowing, was that lovely black Citroën Traction Avant. Now that was a beauty!

"How would you like a fantastic opportunity to get out of your comfort zone as an actor?" Of course I wasn't there, but this easily might have been what Rowan Atkinson's agent said to him when the role of Inspector Maigret presented itself. Atkinson is immortal thanks to his famous comedy/slapstick roles (like "Blackadder", "Johnny English" and especially "Mr. Bean") so it's quite an impressive and risky undertaking to take up the role of a dead- serious, stoic and intelligent French police detective. Perhaps it's because I personally don't have any issues with separating actors/actresses from their typecast roles, or perhaps it's simply because Rowan Atkinson is such a terrific and professional performer, but all throughout "Maigret Sets a Trap" you never once get the impression that he's miscast. You immediately accept Atkinson as Maigret and never associate his appearance here with the idiotic facial expressions of Mr. Bean. Hats off to you, Mr. Atkinson, you are a phenomenal actor. Evidently, people who're familiar with "Blackadder" knew this already for years… With regards to "Maigret Sets a Trap", be careful to set your expectations. It's a straightforward and compelling whodunit thriller with a solid screenplay and tense atmosphere, but it most certainly has its limitations in terms of spectacle. Bear in mind it's a TV- thriller and that the story is more than 60 years old already. That means there aren't any CGI-techniques used in the murder investigation and the character of Inspector Maigret certainly also isn't a super- detective like Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot. He's a bright man, but he also makes mistakes, doubts himself and takes unnecessary risks. During the 1950s in Montmartre, a community close to Paris, Maigret and his team are confronted with a serial killer who already murdered four girls in the narrow streets during the night. Comparisons with Jack the Ripper from London are quickly made and Maigret is under a lot of pressure since there hasn't been any progress in six months. When he finds out more about the psychology and profiling of serial killers, Maigret decides to provoke the culprit via the media and set a trap to apprehend him. The plan works and Maigret arrests his suspect, but is this man really guilty? "Maigret Sets a Trap" doesn't feature any wild car chases, steamy sex sequences, virulent shoot-outs or nasty make- up effects, but it's a respectful new adaptation of a classic suspense novel. The re-creation of the 50s in Paris is particularly well-handled, with beautiful decors, costumes and cars. Atkinson is great and receives excellent support from a dozen of adequate players.

Mister Bin as Maigret is already funny. The pathetic attempts of creators of that TV flop to make it look like happening in France, bring even more fun. Whoever watched the old French series with Jean Richard as Maigret, can easily imagine what George Simenon kept in mind while writing about the meticulous Parisian police detective. Maigret would never wear a typical British bowler hat. Maigret would never hold his famous pipe not for actually smoking it, but only to satisfy the script and director's request. Simenon's fans know that Maigret was a man of a temperament, and he would never act as a melancholic English gentleman. That's why the entire series looks like a boring parody.

Maigret detective stories comprise just a small part of the immensely prolific Simenon's oeuvre. However, Georges Simenon is best known exactly because of the Maigret character. I've read Maigret stories since childhood, and early on I was fascinated not so much with the "clever" story lines and plots, but because of somewhat lazy and disorganized ways in which eponymous detective and his associates in general operate. This adaptation catches very good all the important traits of a Maigret novel. Dangerous and focused killer of women is on the loose in the Montmartre quartier, Paris is on the brink because nobody sleeps peacefully until he is captured, Maigret works hard but cannot find a breakthrough. His men know that nobody but him will find a murderer, but higher officials are asking for closure. So Maigret will have to embark on a dangerous cat and mouse game with the killer, in which other innocent lives will be put in danger. So far, for those not familiar with cool detective, nothing exceptional. But, everything is so Simenon, and so Maigret, that you enjoy the slow flow and unraveling of the many seemingly unimportant scenes and subplots in this very well crafted movie. There are poor and struggling families with small children that will loose their mother; there are inner courtyards where housekeepers lurk behind their curtains and labourers drag their tired feet. There are lots of basement wine bars with barrels and men nurturing their glass of wine, beer or cognac. There are lots of young hardworking women, all of them attractive in their cheap after war dresses and blouses. Some of them are telephone operators, some of them strippers and dancers, and there is entire police squad of brave young women ready to risk their lives on the dangerous streets of Paris, no questions asked. And of course, there are suspects, quirky aspiring upper middle class characters in their slick apartments, struggling to appear respectable but hiding terrible secrets. More hardboiled police officers, dungeons of Quay d'Orfevre full of shady alkoholics, drug users and other sinners. Journalists, thirsty of any information but some of them familiar of Maigret's way of operating. And, yes, in the middle is Maigret, the detective with his pipe who is never in hurry. Rowan Atkinson was somewhat surprising choice, but he did excellent work impersonating french detective. Recommendable!