L'amour aux trousses

Two cops love the same girl. She's a cop too. And she just loves one of the two. What complicates things is that the two guys are best buddies. How can you tell your best friend the truth when you know that it will destroy him?

This movie will probably be forgotten by the end of the year, but it was still a good way to spend a Saturday afternoon at the movie. There's some funny scenes and the acting is not too bad. I guess you could say it's a good popcorn movie.

Seen in Toronto, at the Royal Cinema, during Cinéfranco, on April 8th, 2006.

75/100 (**½)

It's rather weakest French comedy though there is Jean Dujardin who after his brilliant "The Artist" is the big star this year. A plot of this film is very interesting and entertaining but on a screen somehow happens terrible boredom, perhaps there is couple good jokes and probably that's all. "L'amour aux trousses" is very simple and light movie for one watching that you'll immediately forget. I very like French films, they are peculiar and nice, original and romantic, funny and kind, but this film made not up to par and without enthusiasm, in my opinion, unfortunately. It seems has everything but something not enough. In whole "L'amour aux trousses" is not bad but...

I will not tell in detail the summary of this film. It's the umpteenth version of two cops who love the same woman and have no other choice than to collaborate together to arrest a dangerous gangster (François Levantal) on the French Riviera. But as one of them (Pascal Elbé) discovered that his team mate (Jean Dujardin) slept with his wife, it makes him uptight and makes their mission harder to fulfill. And things get more difficult when Elbé's wife rejoins them and has an important piece of news to tell them.

Philippe De Chauveron is the responsible man for the mediocre and somewhat desultory "les Parasites" (1999). Here, he proves once again that he is a third-rate director with unambitious, cinematographic choices. How can you renew the well-worn genre of the buddy movie, especially with a dash of sentimental genre in it? In spite of efforts not to make the main female part decorative and Dujardin's and Elbé's honest performances, the rest doesn't take off. The film oscillates between several types of humor without managing to find its direction and it sometimes falls flat because it's too convenient. See the scene when Dujardin and Elbé are about to nab their quarry. Elbé can see a couple tenderly kissing and of course can't help but asking questions to Dujardin about his affair with his wife. Another irritating point is when Dujardin and Elbé's wife constantly plan to tell him the truth about the important piece of news mentioned in the first paragraph but can't managed to do so and have to delay it.

Philippe De Chauveron doesn't manage to find a correct proportioning between the detective investigation and what deals with the two cops' sentimental problems. And what doesn't help matters is that they're of a thin interest. And so, so is the viewer's who slowly but surely wanes. I won't also forget Levantal's mediocre performance as a hateful gangster with ponderous features.

It's not worth a watch.