I saw this movie at the German Fantasy Film Festival last year. The story starts with a typical buddy-movie setup: Tavares is a cop in Marseille. He is smart, somewhat good looking . and he is corrupt. Nevertheless nobody in the police department seems to care about his little misconducts. One day Tavares gets a new partner. Gomez is coming directly from Paris. He is one hundred per cent law-abiding and hates corruption. From the very first moment Tavares and Gomez are at each other's throats. But they have to work together. Investigating the murder of an accountant who was working for a drug cartel they have to protect his daughter who might be the key to bring down the syndicate. Eventually the mafia wants to eliminate the girl and the two cops. Let the havoc begin...
On the one hand `Payoff' reminded me of the light-hearted French action comedies of the Seventies I used to watch on TV when I was a kid (Belmondo's `L'Animal' comes to mind). On the other hand the movie clearly imitates modern American cop movies like `Bad Boys' or the `Lethal Weapon' series - especially when it comes to the visual style. Actually Marseille (the setting of the film) is presented as if it was Florida or California. The story might have its weak points and it also exploits a number of clichés, but there are lots of great action scenes and funny dialogues to keep you entertained.