Flyerplesys Perfectly adorable

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

tedg Needing something lightly comic, Veber was my man.His "The Closet" was trivial, but few trivial things are amusing and fondly recalled. Here, with a different actor, is the same character with much the same quality. I won't bother you with the story. It doesn't matter. What matters is the way the humor is designed. Essentially all the humor is in the lines. There is no physical comedy here and almost no visual comedy. It is mostly in the dialog. Here is the trick: where other comedy is episodic and/or depends on a zany pace, this has pretty much a normal world, and normal pace. You cannot read the warning signs that a joke is coming. It could appear at any moment, and does from the very beginning. So very early in the game we are trained to engage ourself very closely and pay attention. This is painless because the world we invest in is so light. We need erect no barriers. Because we open ourselves so, we anticipate what might be funny, investing in the possibility. The form of the thing enlists us in making funny.This is easy to test. I believe it to be true, and honorably delicate in the way it helps us live.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

MartinHafer I already liked this film before the opening credits were complete--they were so imaginative and fun. Plus, knowing that the same person who wrote and directed two of my favorite recent French comedies (THE DINNER GAME and THE CLOSET) made this film, it was a definite must-see.Now that I just finished watching it, I must say that I was once again very, very impressed. The film was everything I'd hoped it would be and then some. Francis Veber has once again done a great job--creating a lovely comedy that, unlike the other two films, has very strong romantic elements. In fact, I would say that this is a great date film--with plenty of laughs for the guys and lots of sweet scenes for the ladies.Gad Elmaleh (sort of a French version of Ray Romano in looks) plays François, a very decent valet who is desperately in love with Émilie. When he asks her to marry him, however, she turns him down--after all, he's only a valet and in her mind they are more like friends than lovers. François is heart-broken but into his sad life comes a chance encounter that changes everything. As he's walking down the street, he happens to walk by a rich industrialist (Daniel Auteuil) having an argument with his super-model mistress (Elena, played by Alice Taglioni). A photographer takes a photo and all three appear in it. To save his marriage (and all his wife's millions), Auteuil tells his wife that the guy and the girl in the photo are a couple and that the lady is NOT his mistress. To convince her of this, he pays François and Elena to pretend that they are, indeed, a couple. While it's very, very hard to imagine a beautiful and rich lady dating an ordinary guy, people start to believe it--even Auteuil!.The film is very, very smartly written. Many times, I assumed I knew what would happen next, but the film didn't go the expected route. Sure, it sometimes went in that general direction, but there were lots of nice twists and turns that kept the whole thing unpredictable and sweet. This also, of course, was the result of lovely direction and excellent acting all around. While Auteuil was wonderful, this is pretty much expected--as he's one of the best French actors today. But, I was also very impressed by two others--Gad Elmaleh (who I'd never seen before in a film but played one of the most decent people you could meet) and Dany Boon--who did a great job in a small supporting role. I loved Boon in another recent film where he starred with Auteuil, MY BEST FRIEND (Mon meilleur ami)--another film you should see.Overall, there was nothing I didn't like about this film and I can't wait to recommend it to others. I won't give it a 10 because I very rarely do that, but this is a truly special film. Plus, while I loved the two other Veber films I mentioned in the first paragraph, I actually think I liked this one best--great job!!

RainDogJr Parrallel to La Muestra International De Cine, the last Thursday starts this little festival of french films in Mexico City, i say little because is only one week and only in one cinema. But i found this very good just for the chance to see different films and also because the cast and crew of most of the films (there are 12 films in total) came to Mexico City.Yesterday i have the chance to see this film, the first that i see of this festival and i like it. Is a simple and nice comedy about Pignon, a man who is offered to live with a top model ( an offer that nobody can't refuse) just for save the marriage of a millionaire who is the lover of the top model.Maybe the plot is not great and is not very real, i mean i don't think that a supermodel is like the one of the film, but the film carry out with the principal and unique point: entertain.I mean i really laugh a lot, especially in the beginning when Pignon is still living with his friend and the relation between Pignon's father and his doctor is nothing but hilarious.So i really recommend this film if you want to see just a nice comedy.Well after watch one film of this festival and other of La Muestra International De Cine ( the two festivals right now in Mexico City), i have more desires of watch another of this festival.

gradyharp For centuries the French have had the market on light, elegant, stylish, fluffy and tasty comedy, both in the theater and on film. Unfortunately THE VALET (LA DOUBLURE) doesn't rise to those standards. Though written by Francis Veber, who gave us the 'La Cage Aux Folles' series and 'La Placard', seems to understand the genre as well as anyone, the script for this much-used story is bland and lacks the sparkle and inventiveness of Veber's successes.The tale is one of marital infidelity: a wealthy man Pierre (Daniel Auteuil) is married to elegant and intelligent Christine (Kristin Scott Thomas) and having an affair with top model Elena (Alice Taglioni) for two years. Elena is demanding Pierre divorce his wife or she will leave him and Pierre fears the financial repercussions of divorce. Enter a simpleton valet François Pignon (Gad Elmaleh) who is hopelessly in love with bookstore owner Émilie (Virginie Ledoyen), the daughter of his father's strange physician who is more concentrated on salvaging her business than on paying attention to François's romantic overtures. Accidentally François walks past Pierre and Elena on the street, is captured by the tabloids, and when Christine sees the picture the infidelity is questioned: Pierre seeks his lawyer's advice and the tow plot to have Elena live with François to foil Christine's suspicions. Of course the loser François and the gold digger Elena learn from their roles and the story grinds to a rather silly ending.The cast is excellent but just doesn't ignite sparks on the screen. We are left with characters for whom we have little sympathy, and where is comedy if we cannot find at least one player to support? It is a pleasure to see the beautiful Kristin Scott Thomas toss off a French role with such aplomb, but the talents of the others rarely rise above the mediocre - and that is amazing considering the quality of the cast. A disappointing film. Grady Harp