Wasabi

Negative comments sort of miss the point, as this movie wasn't designed to be anything more than harmlessly amusing. To say anything bad about it is rather like kicking a puppy. You wouldn't kick a puppy, would you?

I needn't go into the plot, which you can click a few links to find, but I sought this movie out because Jean Reno is fun in anything he's in, and oh lookit that, Luc Besson wrote the screenplay-- can't go wrong with that, can you? (unless it's an American remake, which luckily this is not).

This movie is FUNNY, at times a little cheesy (which we can also call FRENCH), and the action is over-the-top enough to be cartoonish (when Hubert punches someone, they fly back 20 feet). This is essentially a wacky comedy with some action, something Americans aren't used to seeing, but well worth a look. It's harmless fun, but still more original than your average paint-by-numbers American romantic comedy. Or action film.

This film is about a French man suddenly finding himself having a rebellious Japanese daughter.

I thoroughly enjoyed the film. The plot is fun and dynamic, it mixes humour, mystery and action all in a film. The soundtrack is great, the music is upbeat, which enhances the youthful and fun atmosphere of the film. Japanese culture is portrayed in the film. It is in fact quite comprehensive in its portrayal of tradition and culture. It shows traditional culture like food, Japanese architecture and ninjas. It also shows modern culture like the cute girls dyeing their hair brown or blonde, clubs, and various video game arcades. Ryoko Hirosue gives a fine performance as a teenage girl, and speaks convincing French. I really enjoyed this film, it is so funny!

The goal of this film is to entertain. And it works. Leave your brain at the door and enjoy. The soundtrack is appropriate and good. Jean Reno is at the apex of coolness and Ryoko Hirosue is hip and refreshing. One could say the movie is some kind of techno-cop film that takes some aspects of the traditional French cop movies and push it to the limit during a crazy few days in Tokyo. Great to see the mega-city by the way. The movie is a cross between your typical James Bond and a modern Japanese action flick. Seen at home, in Toronto, on April 4th, 2006.

74/100 (**½)

The story is about a french policeman with personal working practices that his boss doesn't like much. Jean Reno does very well in this role. His character is the centerpiece of the whole movie. You can also see a snapshot at the Japanese way of life, even though it is adapted to the movie a lot. Not to make this into a long and boring comment, I think you should see this to have a good laugh if you like Jean Reno and his humor.

`Wasabi' is a high-spirited French action comedy with a Japanese name. This Luc Besson production stars Jean Reno in a wonderful performance as a tough-guy French cop who is as quick to use his tongue as his overeager fists. One day, out of the blue, Detective Fiorentino discovers that he has a 19 year-old daughter by a Japanese woman who left him almost 20 years ago, breaking his heart in the process. The girl, Yumi, turns out to be an orange-haired free spirit who hates cops and has been led to believe that her father raped her mother. Much of the film is spent with Hubert and Yumi getting to know one another, as they uncover secrets about her mother's past that seem to have made the young woman the target of some rather unsavory characters.

The plot is the least of the matter in this film. As directed by Gerard Krawczyk, `Wasabi' is really all about style. Besson's screenplay is fitfully amusing, doling out cleverness and cutesyness in roughly equal measure. Cinematographer Gerard Sterin brings out the colorful richness of the urban Japanese landscape and editor Yanne Herve doesn't linger longer on the jokes and sight gags than is absolutely necessary. These elements help to compensate for the somewhat desperate air that afflicts the screenplay from time to time.

The prime asset of `Wasabi' is Jean Reno's performance. Reno perfectly mines the comic potential inherent in the material through the tone of weary cynicism and superiority to all around him that he conveys throughout. As an actor who has played this type of rogue-cop character many times in his career, Reno obviously relishes this opportunity for a little good-natured self-ribbing. And he does a splendid job.

`Wasabi' is little more than a piffle when all is said and done, but Reno makes it worth seeing.