Shirli-myrli
# Shirli-myrli

Shirli-myrli (Russian: Ширли-мырли, also released as What a Mess!) is a 1995 farce comedy film of the early post-soviet era directed by Vladimir Menshov. Centered around a pursued con man, who stole a huge diamond, the movie, among other things, satirizes chauvinism, antisemitism and other ethnic tensions in the 1990s Russia. Valery Garkalin plays multiple roles as identical twins who were raised believing they belong to different cultures and races and used to look down on each other's.

## Plot summary

While digging in the diamond mine "Unpromising" in Yakutia an enormous diamond was found. It is called The Savior of Russia: officials declare that the sale of the diamond could pay off the national debt and pay for every Russian citizen to take a three-year-long vacation at the Canary Islands.

While the diamond is being transported to Moscow (by Antonov An-124 Ruslan) it is stolen by the crime boss Kozulskiy (Armen Dzhigarkhanyan), who is then robbed by professional thief Vasiliy Krolikov (Valeri 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 Romani tabor [ru] chief and a deputy of the parliament. Krolikov is pursued by Kozulskiy's mafia and two militsiya officers - Jean-Paul Piskunov (Igor Ugolnikov) and an unnamed lieutenant (Sergey Batalov). At the end of the film it turns out that there is a fourth brother, raised as an African American, making all characters played by Garkalin at least quadruplets.

## Cast

* Valery Garkalin as Vasily Krolikov, Innokentiy Shniperson, Roman Almazov and Patrick Crolikow
* Vera Alentova as Carol Abzats, Zemfira Almazova, Lusiena Krolikova and Whitney Crolikow
* Inna Churikova as Praskoviya Alekseyevna Krolikova
* Igor Ugolnikov as Jean-Paul Nikolayevich Piskunov
* Leonid Kuravlyov as US Ambassador to Russia
* Lyubov Polishchuk as Jennifer, Ambassador's wife
* Aleksandr Pankratov-Chyorny as Ambassador's bodyguard
* Mikhail Kokshenov as Ambassador's bodyguard
* Valeri Afanasyev as Anatoly Ivanov
* Yevgeni Aleksandrov as TV journalist
* Nina Alisova as music-lover
* Irina Apeksimova as Step performer and the Violinist from Conservatory
* Sergei Artsybashev as Registry Office Worker
* Sergey Batalov as Detective
* Lev Borisov as Mafioso
* Aleksei Buldakov as commander of the An-124 crew
* Yelena Bushuyeva
* Rolan Bykov as Head of Mafia and the Brilliant's buyer
* Yuri Chernov as Suitcase carrier
* Armen Dzhigarkhanyan as Kozyulski
* Sergei Gabrielyan as Ravil Beliletdinov
* Yevgeni Gerchakov as Symphony Orchestra Conductor
* Maksim Glotov as Police Officer
* Marina Golub as Director of the Philharmonic
* Vladimir Gusev as General
* Arkadi Koval as TV Announcer
* Tatyana Kravchenko as Bronislava Rosembaum, geologist
* Yuriy Kuzmenkov as Man with a goat
* Anatoly Kuznetsov as Father
* Vladimir Menshov as Russian President / Commentator on TV
* Pyotr Merkuryev as Meloman
* Nonna Mordyukova as Registry Office Worker
* Valeri Nikolayev as Step performer
* Vsevolod Sanayev
* Boris Smorchkov as General
* Oleg Tabakov as Sukhodrishchev
* Yevgeni Vesnik as Doctor
* Aleksandr Voroshilo as Spectator
* Oleg Yefremov as Neighbour
