Shirli-myrli

{{Infobox film | name = Shirli-myrli | image =What a Mess!.jpg | caption = | director = Vladimir Menshov | writer = Vladimir Menshov Vitaliy Moskalenko Andrei Samsonov | starring = Valery Garkalin Vera Alentova Inna Churikova Igor Ugolnikov | music = Timur Kogan | cinematography = Vadim Alisov | editing = | producer = Vladimir Dostal Alexander Litvinov | story = | studio = Mosfilm | released = {{film date|1995}} | runtime = 136 minutes | country = Russia | language = Russian }} '''''Shirli-myrli''''' ({{langx|ru|Ширли-мырли}}, also released as ''What a Mess!'') is a 1995 farce comedy film of the early post-soviet era directed by Vladimir Menshov.<ref name="enc">{{cite web|url=http://old.russiancinema.ru/template.php?dept_id=3&e_dept_id=&e_movie_id=7387|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305104556/http://old.russiancinema.ru/template.php?dept_id=3&e_dept_id=&e_movie_id=7387|url-status=dead|title="Ширли-мырли"|work=Энциклопедия отечественного кино|archivedate=2016-03-05}}</ref> Centered around a pursued con man, who steal a huge diamond. The movie, among other things, satirizes chauvinism, antisemitism and other ethnic tensions in 1990s Russia. Valery Garkalin plays multiple roles as identical twins who were raised believing they belonged to different cultures and races, looking down at one another's.

==Plot summary== While Russian miners are digging in the diamond mine, ''Unpromising'', in Yakutia, an enormous diamond is found. It is called ''The Savior of Russia'', and officials declare that the sale of the diamond could pay off the national debt, as well as pay for a three-year-long vacation in the Canary Islands for every citizen of the Russian Federation.

While the diamond is being transported to Moscow (by Antonov An-124 ''Ruslan'')<ref name="enc"/> it is stolen by crime boss Kozulskiy (Armen Dzhigarkhanyan), who is then robbed by professional thief Vasiliy Krolikov (Valery Garkalin).

For the remainder of the film, the plot revolves around Krolikov, a con man raised as a Russian, and his two other identical multiple birth brothers; one was raised as a Jew to become a world-famous musician, another as a Russian Roma to become a {{ill|Romani tabor|ru|Цыганский табор}} chief and a member of Russian parliament. Krolikov is pursued by Kozulskiy's mafia and two ''militsiya'' officers - Captain Jean-Paul Piskunov (Igor Ugolnikov), and an unnamed lieutenant (Sergey Batalov). At the end of the film, it is revealed that there is a fourth brother, raised as an African American (also played by Garkalin), meaning that the brood is actually quadruplets.

==Cast== * Valery Garkalin as ''Vasily Krolikov'' / ''Innokentiy Shniperson'' / ''Roman Almazov'' / ''Patrick Crolikow'' * Vera Alentova as ''Carol Abzats'' / ''Zemfira Almazova'' / ''Lusiena Krolikova'' / ''Whitney Crolikow''<ref name="enc"/> * Inna Churikova as ''Praskoviya Krolikova'', Krolikov's supposed mother and the quadruplets's aunt * Armen Dzhigarkhanyan as ''Kozyulski'', the crime boss ("Godfather") * Igor Ugolnikov as ''Captain Jean-Paul Piskunov'', militsiya special investigator * Sergey Batalov as the ''militsiya lieutenant and Piskunov's assistant'' * Leonid Kuravlyov as the ''US Ambassador to Russia'' * Lyubov Polishchuk as ''Jennifer'', US Ambassador's wife and collector of Russian folklore * Oleg Tabakov as ''Sukhodrishchev'', a rowdy drunkard * Aleksandr Voroshilo as ''Kozma'', Shniperson's admirer * Nonna Mordyukova as the ''Female Registry Office Worker'' * Sergei Artsibashev as the ''Male Registry Office Worker'' * Arkadi Koval as the ''TV Announcer'' * Yevgeni Aleksandrov as the ''TV journalist'' (voiced by Sergey Bezrukov) * Lev Borisov as ''Alexey Feofilaktovich'', a mafioso * Yuri Chernov as ''Alexey'', the suitcase carrier * Oleg Yefremov as ''Nikolay Grigoryevich'', the Krolikovs' alcoholic neighbor * Yevgeni Vesnik as the ''doctor'' * Rolan Bykov as the ''diamond buyer'' * Valeri Nikolayev as the ''male step dancer'' * Irina Apeksimova as the ''female step dancer'' * Viktor Gaynov as ''Quasimodo'', a mafioso * Aleksandr Pankratov-Chyorny as ''US Ambassador's bodyguard'' * Mikhail Kokshenov as ''US Ambassador's bodyguard'' * Tatyana Kravchenko as ''Bronislava Rosembaum'', the geologist * Sergei Gabrielyan as ''Ravil Beliletdinov'', the geologist * Valeri Afanasyev as ''Anatoly Ivanov'', the geologist<ref name="enc"/> * Vladimir Menshov as the ''President of Russia'' * Vsevolod Sanayev as the ''male music lover'' * Nina Alisova as the ''female music lover'' * Vladimir Gusev as the ''General'' * Boris Smorchkov as the ''General'' * Gennadi Matveyev as the ''General'' * Pyotr Merkuryev as the ''guest at the wedding'' * Aleksei Buldakov<ref name="enc"/> as the ''An-124 crew commander'' * Yevgeni Gerchakov as the ''Symphony Orchestra Conductor'' * Yuriy Kuzmenkov as the ''man with a goat'' * Marina Golub as the ''manager of the philharmonic hall'' * Klavdia Kozlyonkova as ''passenger at the plane'' (uncredited)

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *{{IMDb title|0114429}}

Category:Russian comedy films Category:Russian-language comedy films Category:1995 Russian films Category:1995 Russian-language films Category:1995 comedy films Category:1995 films Category:Films directed by Vladimir Menshov Category:Whitewashing in film