| The Bait | |
| Native Name: | |
| Director: | Yves Simoneau |
| Producer: | Josée Vallée Yves Simoneau |
| Starring: | Guy A. Lepage Rachid Badouri |
| Music: | Normand Corbeil |
| Cinematography: | Guy Dufaux |
| Editing: | Richard Comeau |
| Studio: | Cirrus Communications |
| Distributor: | Alliance VivaFilm |
| Runtime: | 104 minutes |
| Country: | Canada |
| Language: | French |
The Bait (French: L’Appât) is a Canadian crime comedy film, directed by Yves Simoneau and released in 2010.[1] The film stars Guy A. Lepage as Prudent Poirier, a bumbling Montreal police officer who witnesses the death of mafia boss Carboni (Michel Perron), and Rachid Badouri as Mohammed Choukroune, a French secret service agent who is sent to Montreal to pose as "Ventura", a new police recruit who is paired with Prudent in an attempt to recover information about Carboni's death.[2] As the mission goes awry, however, the two are forced to uncover a wider conspiracy that implicates their own bosses as well.
The film's cast also includes Serge Dupire, Maxim Roy, Ayisha Issa, Romano Orzari, Marie-Josée Boudreau, Frédérique Pierre, Khadija Assad, Sasha Samar, Gregory Hlady, Manuel Tadros and Sylvie Lemay.[3]
Simoneau's first French-language film since moving into English-language film and television after In the Belly of the Dragon (Dans le ventre du dragon) in 1989,[3] the film entered production in September 2010.[4] Initially intended for release in 2011,[5] it was released to theatres by December 2010 following a rapid "merry-go-round" of production and post-production which Simoneau attributed to his experience working within the quicker turnaround of television films.[6]
The film's soundtrack included a song, "Your Favourite Killer", by Marie-Mai.[7]