L'arnacoeur

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.

Brilliant French romantic comedy which punches above its weight. Funny, classy, wry, surprising the audience here and there. Shot on location, we had fun recognizing the spots in Morocco and Monaco, and we also enjoyed the soundtrack and references to George Michael and to "Dirty Dancing".

In the discussion boards, some people complained that "the leading actors have bad teeth"... That's precisely part of this film's charm: the leading actors are not standardized, plastic-like, Ken and Barbie dolls! They look more real with all their natural imperfections. But if you want Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, don't worry: there is bound to be an American remake of this coming soon...! (Probably set in Miami Beach with Queen Latifah and Eddie Murphy in the supporting roles).

HEARTBREAKER ('L'ARNACOEUR') is a delightful bit of French fluff, created as only the French know how. There are 'quotes' from certain films and songs that mix the two main characters together and add to the meringue of the farce. Based on a light story by Laurent Zeitoun, Jeremy Doner, and Yhan Gromb and directed with a fine sense of comic timing by Pascal Chaumeil, this is one of those examples of the farces the French do so well.

Alex Lipp (Romain Duris), his sister Mélanie (Julie Ferrier) and her husband Marc (François Damiens) run a little business: they coordinate efforts to breakup undesired relationships for pay. After a few examples of how the trio works its magic, an assignment takes them to Monaco where they are hired to stop the marriage between Juliette Van Der Becq (Vanessa Paradis) and her wealthy humanitarian fiancé Jonathan Alcott (Andrew Lincoln) - in 10 days time! Alex is avoiding previous client debts represented by a bodyguard Goran (Jean-Marie Paris) but plunges into the formula courtship destruction mode with Juliette; the difference this time is that Juliette seems happily ensconced in the marriage plans and has little time for Alex's plans. But of course through the period of time allotted, Juliette finds qualities in Alex that are missing from her 'perfect' fiancé and Alex breaks his cardinal rule and falls in love with his marked client Juliette. The manner in which the story is resolved is clever and entertaining and heartwarming.

This may not be a great movie but it is a well-acted refreshing little romp to cleanse the palette! In French and English with subtitles. Grady Harp, November 10

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.

I'm not into French cinema because I don't usually understand the jokes in them, but I went to see Heartbreaker last night for a special preview. I was completely surprised because it charmed me in the first five minutes and from then on it was an almost non-stop laughing, chuckling, cackling audience around me. I loved the storyline and the characters. Alex Lippi is a guy hired to seduce women and break up couples. When he is hired to sort out Juliette (Vanessa Paradis) 10 days before her wedding, he pulls out all the tricks from the hat but she doesn't fall for anything. Interestingly, the thing that it was in French made this movie work much better than a Hollywood version. I thoroughly enjoyed it because it was funny, witty, fresh, minus the clichés and cheap jokes.