The Shiny Shrimps (French: Les Crevettes pailletées) is a 2019 French sportscomedy film directed by Cédric Le Gallo and Maxime Govare.[1] The film stars Nicolas Gob as Matthias Le Goff, an Olympic swimming champion who makes a homophobic comment in a television interview, and is disciplined by the national swim team with the responsibility of coaching a gay water polo team who aspire to compete in the Gay Games.[2]
The film premiered at the L'Alpe d'Huez Film Festival on 19 January 2019, and was released theatrically in France on 8 May 2019. A sequel, The Revenge of the Shiny Shrimps (French: La Revanche des Crevettes pailletées), was released on 13 April 2022.[3]
Synopsis
Mathias Le Goff is a world vice-champion swimmer. After making homophobic comments during a television interview, he is sanctioned to train the glittering Shiny Shrimp, a gay water polo team, for three months for their participation in the Gay Games in Croatia. Two worlds that everything seems to oppose will have to team up as best they can.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 75% based on reviews from 28 critics, with an average rating of 6.3/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "The Shiny Shrimps traffics in cliche, but for fans of inspirational underdog stories, the results may be too uplifting to resist."[4]
The film received much support in public through popular presentations that included local LGBT/queer athletes.
Authors presenting the movie Berlin's MonGay program of Kino International, 2019
'Berlin Aquaholics' water polo players joined for talk
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the film remained a popular suggestion in LGBT+ media listings of video on demand.[5][6]
