The movie parodies big budget American films (Basic Instinct, Pretty Woman and The Terminator, among others, are directly spoofed) and relies heavily on puns and word play, which makes it somewhat inaccessible for non native French speakers.

Odile Deray (Lauby) is the publicist for the slasher movie Red is Dead, which features a serial killer whose weapons of choice are the hammer and sickle.

Ecstatic, Odile brings the movie's intellectually disabled star Simon Jérémi (Farrugia) to the festival and hires bodyguard and self-proclaimed womanizer Serge Karamazov (Chabat) to protect them.

In their bloody house, Sandy (de Fougerolles) and Ben (Farrugia) congratulate themselves on their defeat of Youri, the communist killer who murdered their entire family, and who is now lying on the floor, apparently dead.

Ben, however, remembers with horror that he has forgotten to turn the vacuum cleaner off, and runs back to the house, knocking Youri into a conveniently placed petroleum puddle with the car door.

After turning the vacuum cleaner off, he runs back to the car, where a phone call warns him that Youri is standing behind him.

Ben fights Youri with his car phone, and manages to send him back into the puddle before setting it on fire.

While the widow mourns her husband and reminisces their last argument, Odile realizes she can use the murder for publicity, and decides to bring the film's star to the festival, and to hire a bodyguard.

While playing various sports, Karamazov's boss reminds him that his job description does not include having sex with his clients, and instructs him to go to Cannes to protect Simon Jérémi, Red is Dead's main star.

At the Nice airport, Karamazov meets Odile, and the two see Simon arrive, wielding a balloon and a nametag, and accompanied by a stewardess.

Bialès wonders about the meaning of the letters found carved on the wall after both murders, an O and a D, and concludes that they spell "do", leading him to believe that the killer is a musician.

Odile talks about her life before Red is Dead, and as sexual tension quickly builds up between the two, they leave for Bialès's apartment.

The next scene starts with a disclaimer stating that, because of budgetary limits, it will be entirely dubbed by the crew, including sound effects.

Amidst arguments and chit chat by the dubbers, the fourth projectionist (Mitchell) is killed, and the killer accidentally cuts his own finger.

His explanations are interrupted by the arrival of the new projectionist, the unnamed man who was seen watching the news all throughout the movie: it is Émile Gravier (Karmann), an old friend of Odile's with extremely bad breath.

Later, the awards ceremony is about to start, and Odile, Karamazov, Simon and Émile are in a limousine, getting ready to climb the famous stairs to the Palais des festivals.

Suddenly, Jean-Paul Martoni, who has been convicted of the deputy's murder, arrives and, threatening the crowd with a gun, runs into the building.

Odile instructs Karamazov to distract them, and he and Bialès launch in an "improvised" musical number about the Carioca, which the public loves.

In the projection room, Simon is attacked by Émile, who reveals that he killed all the previous projectionists in an attempt to get Odile's attention.

Martoni is arrested and Bialès is carried away on a gurney; he reassures Odile that he will be able to walk again, but she tells him she is only worried about her movie.

A number of celebrities make cameo appearances as themselves, including Rosanna Arquette, Dave, Pierre Lescure, Daniel Toscan du Plantier and Patrice Laffont.