Olympia

Mulot, Ruppert, and Vivès reunite in this elegant and wacky sequel to The Grand Odalisque, an escapade their fans will welcome despite how it stretches narrative credibility. Thanks to the botched sale of a medieval helmet that puts them under the control of a mobster with a keen interest in art, the wisecracking thieving team of Alex, Sam, and a very pregnant Carole must steal three famous paintings, including Manet’s Olympia, from the Petit Palais in Paris. Accompanying them is Antonio, a hit man who’s there to ensure the job gets done; of course, the trio want to ensure he won’t just kill them when it’s over. Vivès’s economical linework is impressive, especially when rendering gorgeous Parisian architecture and vistas, and the coloring of the cast’s nighttime capers is stunning. While there’s tart tensions at play in the relationships between the three women, strange plot choices (including a sewer traversal whose implications drag on too long) make for bumps in the road on the way to the madcap final action sequence. It’s mindless fun, just don’t overthink it. (Feb.)