Der Auftragslover

Yes, it's *another* romantic comedy. And yes, there's nothing very original or groundbreaking here. But once you know what you're getting into, this is a really enjoyable watch with lots of funny moments. Perhaps it's just because the French style makes it feel a little different from the jaded American/British 'rom com' genre. Or perhaps the credit should go to the leads, Romain Duris and Vanessa Paradis, who were both great. Who'd have thought Paradis would pop up in this of all places. The movie for me was let down only by the ending, which was entirely predictable, but I still laughed along all the way! Recommended light viewing.

Heartbreaker (2010)

The latest Romain Duris romantic comedy, which is a kind of backwards "Hitch" and it's even more fun. It takes a short while to establish the central cast of characters, but the premise is made clear right away. The leading man seduces women who are about to marry the "wrong" guy. He then steps out of the way, leaving the woman high and dry. Both the "wrong" engagement and his own new involvement are on ice.

This is more hilarious than such a formula film should be. It's a kind of escapist comedy, but with such good pedigree and filmmaking chops you really get swept away. Duris can be really a charmer, and his two sidekicks are hilarious as well as heartwarming.

The fact it's mostly set in Monte Carlo gives it a compact, glitzy charm (far more glitzy than Bahrain, for my money, speaking of money). The plot goes as planned at first, of course. But inevitably things go very wrong. After some last minute swerves and laughs, things seem to go right, until the final ending, which I'll leave to you. It really is like "Hitch" or "Failure to Launch," which set up a kind of protocol for how everyone should behave, and within that set of rules people misbehave. It's the latest kind of screwball comedy formula, and a dependable one, especially this well made.

Most of it is in French, but a bit is in English, too, for the subtitle averse. And all the music is in English (interestingly, but typically). But never mind too much. You could almost get it all without words. Funny, warm, witty, well made fluff stuff.

I'm no expert on rom-coms I have to say. I don't mind them particularly you understand but I just don't tend to gravitate towards them. This of course means that my views on Heartbreaker are not from the point-of-view of a connoisseur of this genre. And from this perspective I found it to be a perfectly pleasant way to spend an hour-and-a-half of my time. While the story's trajectory did seem a little predictable, the mixture of the romantic comedy with the 'heartbreaker' team seemed to be coming from a new angle. It allowed the film to mix in some action, gadgets and spy tactics into the romantic formula. And really it works quite well all-in-all.

I found the characters to be likable and amusing. I enjoyed the Monaco scenery. And I was interested enough with the various methods the heartbreaker team employed to pull off their scam. While the film doesn't really explain very well why Vanessa Paradis's father does not want her to marry her fiancé, and her subsequent romance with her bodyguard isn't really very believable, it doesn't ultimately matter very much as the film's tone is playful and a bit silly, so lack of believability isn't exactly a deal-breaker here. Overall, Heartbreaker has most probably been so successful as it's a rom-com that guys and girls can both enjoy.

This is a very good romantic comedy - probably the best French rom-com since Hors De Prix (Which is my favourite French comedy of the decade) - oodles of fun, high living, and then something unexpected - lots and lots of heart.

We really enjoyed L'arnacoeur, sure it's unrealistic and yes it follows it's genre, but those are two reasons why it's great to watch - it is laugh out loud funny and smarter than it lets on - and the two leads work well together to produce a French comedy with wit, farce, and l'amour.

Compared to most rom-coms (Boy finds girl, loses girl, finds girl again) this is a league above, it's not cutesy, though it is over polished in places, but the plotting is smart, the leads have chemistry, and above all it about finding love and I, for one, give it a massive two thumbs up.

The title means "The Heartbreaker." This charming and smoothly executed if far-fetched farce/action/rom-com about a team of professional marriage-derailers-for-hire has won rave reviews along with top box office in France (Allociné critical rating 3.0 (72). As has already been written in a US review, this is exactly the kind of thing Hollywood loves to copy but never manages to do with the required Gallic lightness and elegance. Actually there's a slight overload of added slapstick and violence this time; still, the action movies on such well-greased wheels and the actors perform with such dash, the movie never ceases to entertain.

The premise: Duris and his sister (Julie Ferrier) and her husband (François Damiens) run an outfit specializing in breaking up impending weddings by showing the bride that her fiancé isn't as desirable a match as Duris. Duris, AKA Alex, withdraws with a touching story about how he's too heartbroken to be the one. Usually a rich father employs the team to perform this scam. Such is the case when Vanessa Paridis is about to marry Jonathan, a wealthy young Englishman (Andrew Lincoln). The job goes against Duris' basic rule never to break up a match when the couple is genuinely in love with each other -- as these two are. Also the deadline to stop the wedding is impossibly short. But the team takes it on nonetheless because of a major debt. Gangsters are threatening to do huge damage to Duris if he doesn't pay up very quickly.

Two gaps in the writing: it's not entirely clear why Paridis' father is so keen on destroying this match; and the team's elaborate high-tech methods are impossibly clever and complicated. However none of this is meant to be taken seriously. Much of the fun is in the ingenious tricks the team uses to follow Paradis' movements and give Duris opportunities to seduce her -- an outcome which she stubbornly resists till the very last moment. And then when she gives in, of course, he breaks another of his cardinal rules and falls in love with her; but it's all resolved in a lighthearted fashion.

A fun watch with definite US release potential, and in fact a US release is coming. Seen in Paris in April 2010 and again in a preview in NYC, when it seemed a little longer than it needed to be (there is a lot of repetition). But Duris' deftness as a comic actor, his physicality in the dancing bits, Paridis' charm and elegance, and François Damiens' sympathetic personality hold up and indeed inspire awe and admiration on repeat viewings.