Slap Her, She's French!

Like most people I groaned when I saw the trailer and, ahem, the title for this movie. But I rented the DVD on a whim and hey, turns out this is pretty darn funny after all.

It's not subtle, but it is good fun, which is more than can be said for other teen comedies from 2002. The two leading ladies are genuine stars of the future (McGregor is that rare breed of beautiful actress who isn't afraid to humiliate herself for the sake of comedy) and some of the jokes are laugh-out-loud funny.

If you liked Drop Dead Gorgeous or The New Guy, you'll love this.

OK, I'll go out on the limb here by stating that I really liked this movie, and was pleasantly surprised by it. This flick simply does what it says on the cover: a comedy that is actually funny, rather than gross or grotesque. There is a real story, real development, a real turn-around, real acting; the plot is funny, as are the quotes and dialogues ("Our love dried up like a three day-old croissant!") and the running gags (such as the students adopting "Ouais!" as their interjection-du-jour in an attempt to emulate Geneviève, or Starla's alcoholic mum's fixation on her "special" ice tea); in fact, and especially considering the movie's provenience and target audience, the humour is often astoundingly dark. This is all the more laudable as both cast and production are sort of B-listish (by fame, not performance).

My only brickbat would be that I thought that Starla's magic conversion from teenage queen-bee to "real person" with concomitant change of boyfriend was predictable, moralistic, unnecessary and naff.

Yes it might not be the best movie ever made, but for mindless entertainment, this is a good movie. It made me laugh to see a high school princess's world throw into a frenzy (no, I am not a cynic and don't hate all high school princesses). I kinda liked it, and it kept me awake at work. I am not suggesting going out and buying it; far from it. But if you get a chance to catch it on TV, and are in the mood for mindless entertainment, watch it. It tries to capitalize on the genre of movies like "Mean Girls", "Man of the House", and "Bring It On". I know that I might be clashing with some of your beliefs about this movie, but your comments made this out a lot worse than it was, which is just a funny teenage movie.

Rating: 12 Stars: Piper Perabo, Jane McGregor Theme: Teen comedy Violence/Language/Nudity: Comedy violence and occasional strong language

Very few films these days have a title which deserve the applause this one does. Regardless of the quality of the movie, Slap Her.She's French is simply a brilliant, and completely unexplained, title. So after worshipping one of the funniest film titles of all time, is the movie any where near as good as the name promises. Well, no. But then the title is a lot to live up to, so its not to say that the film isn't any good at all. A French foreign exchange student comes to stay with a stereotypical hicksville Texan family and their beauty pageant winning daughter. The French girl, however, is not all that she seems. Essentially this film abuses the French and the Texans, so far its appealing to most Brits.

The story is pretty predictable, as are most of the jokes. The characters are all stereotypes, conforming to tried and tested formulae. Slap Her. sets itself up as an inferior version of Drop Dead Gorgeous. The narrative is slow to start and when it eventually does, has plot holes the size of the Lone Star State. Not all the jokes miss the mark though. For every couple of missed funnies, there is one laugh out loud moment. Some of the set pieces are neat and will appeal to the audience with a slightly more discerning tastes, but these moments are rare and unappreciated by the film's creators. You can't help but feel that had this been made by a British team the humour would have been that bit more subtle and consistent. The narrative itself is incredibly slow to start, something which could have been avoided had the director (Melanie Mayron) realised that we already knew everything she was telling us about her characters. A montage sequence would have been far more successful method of exposition.

The performances are varied. Perabo as the "obviously" French Genevieve is either wasted or just plain useless, we can only hope its the former. McGregor's Starla (even the name's obvious) is over the top but appealing. The supporting cast often fair better, but are hideously underdeveloped. The entire lesbian relationship sub plot of Starla's two best friends comes and goes without rhyme nor reason. Starla's mum (Julie White) and her alcoholic ice tea habit could have been a thread worth developing, but there is no reason for it being mentioned at all with the script the way it stands. Even Starla's consumption of an entire flask of her mum's favourite tipple fails to create any humour from her inevitable drunkenness. Starla's saviours are her brother (Jesse James) and school newspaper photographer Ed (Trent Ford). Neither of whom are used anywhere near as much as they should have been. These actors and their performances suggest that this movie could have been so much more than it is, had the actors been given the script that you get the impression could have existed.

Many of the movies problems stem from the sensation that there was originally a much larger and more complete script that followed through some of the story lines suggested in the final piece. It is almost as if the makers didn't want to offend anyone too much and therefore removed lots of the superior narrative. This all leads to an average movie that could have been so much more. Never quite reaching straight to video levels, this is never going to be a classic in the vein of Ten Things I Hate About You, which it easily could have been. As a Sunday night diversion Slap Her.She's French is acceptable. There are enough laughs to prevent you feeling cheated, and a slightly warm fuzzy feeling that you just can't help getting in your stomache. This is simply a teen comedy which missed the opportunity to be a classic of the genre, and you just can't help feeling that it really could have been a contender.

Mark: 5/10 Who to go with: Your girlfriend or younger sister

Many of the negative reviews of this film are obviously written by francophiles who have had their feathers ruffled by the original title and apparently haven't actually seen the movie. Slap her She's French makes fun of generically American and more specifically Texan culture, FAR more than the French. I was delighted(and surprised)to find this a very well acted and cleverly written teen comedy that provided a vehicle for showcasing the talents of a number of young actresses. The film does stereotype and titillate but it is a teen comedy and they tend to do that. Those who are offended by such things should consider therapy to get over themselves or simply avoid this genre. Personally I was too busy laughing to be bothered.