There are a few extra plot threads that feel like parking spaces that don't quite fit, but the story is squeezed in anyway. I'd still check out the valet.
The Valet (2007)
Genre: Foreign Films
Starring: Gad Elmaleh, Daniel Auteuil, Kristin Scott Thomas, Richard Berry, Virginie Ledoyen
Screenwriter: Francis Veber
Producer: Patrice Ledoux
Composer: Alexandre Desplat
DVD Info
Release:
Jun 9, 2008
DVD Features:
- Anamorphic Widescreen - 2.35
Audio:
- Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
- Subtitles - English - Optional
Reviews
A charming if familiar French comedy of manners, again showing writer-director Francis Veber's skillful touch as a farceur, this time with elegant British actress Kristin Scott Thomas and vet Daniel Auteuil, who could have played this role in his sleep
The movie is so tame you may find your mind wandering toward the casting of the inevitable Hollywood remake. (Jonah Hill as Pignon, perhaps?)
I can even see Adam Sandler starring in an American remake. Can't you just see a dopey, befuddled Sandler sharing a lumpy little twin bed with, say, Jessica Alba?
Except for a slightly misguided final scene, LA DOUBLURE (THE VALET) is a great dessert movie: a brisk and breezy romp that will leave audiences smiling.
I kept fantasizing about how great this film would have been if Eric Rohmer had made it.
It's not as outrageous or as hilarious as his best work, but it's still charming, even when it isn't finding the funnybone.
If you're in the mood for Gallic lightheartedness, you know where to go.
One can see Moliére being jealous of the plot line, and Karl Marx applauding. You see capitalists who exploit the masses do not fare too well in this venture.
Veber fills the film with engagingly quirky characters and bright gags that keep it floating along with such assurance that it constantly charms.
Improbable? Perhaps, but one of writer-director Francis Veber's gifts as a farceur is to make the unlikely both credible and amusing.
Veber's dialogue is as witty as ever, and he gets great mileage out of his likable cast, particularly Elmaleh and Taglioni.
The Valet is a trifle with a few good ideas strewn about, but which feels rushed and too flimsy for its own good.
Stereotypes were made to be broken, but don't expect the lithe screwball comedy "The Valet" to change your ideas of Gallic humor.
It's all empty calories, of course, but that's what French pastry -- not to mention popcorn -- is all about.
Shot with the creative energy of a mediocre sitcom, the scenes play out predictable plot devices with minimal creativity and even less risk.
Veber's script is masterfully constructed to increase the laughs as the scheme grows more and more convoluted.
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