Barbecue

If you have Lambert Wilson and Franck Dubosc in a French movie centered around mid-life crisis, you can do a better job than that.

As it is, this film barely manages to entertain. Not terrible, but lacks the kind of creativity and dares we have seen examples of both in European cinema and Hollywood.

The script should have been written in a fashion to compete with Meet the Parents, at worst.

After a heart attack ,Antoine ,who "has never smoked or drunk" ,decides to turn the page and let loose...

Lambert Wilson is so subtle an actor that ,with a better screenplay and a better director ,he could have turned in an outstanding performance ;and in fact ,he does ,considering the limitations he 's working under .

The story is too nice, devoid of a madness which is terribly lacking :the hero should have taken a rebel stand ;it's not because he eats "croissants Au Beurre" for breakfast and develops a taste for booze that he challenges his wife and his tiresome friends .The disastrous ending ,the untimely songs -of course in English,haven't we got our own songs over here? .The kind of music which passes for rock in MTV works-,the lovely cinematography (filmed on location in Provence)make the movie look like an interminable advert.Antoine should have chuckled the whole thing,sent this bunch of bores packing ,especially Baptiste and Olivia .Frank Dubosc and Florence Foresti ham it up all along the way and are almost unbearable.

Lambert Wilson is the only reason why you would watch this ;but he really deserves better.

Not a single funny scene have I seen during this whole movie.

The storyline doesn't have a consistency, dialogues do not have connections from time to time and all in all, my impression is that the screenwriter and director didn't have an entire idea what this movie should really be about but they rushed to film it.

It makes you think that all the "dirty secrets" of the protagonists are going to be revealed but suddenly they miracolusly make peace with each other and the movie finishes without a real epilogue leaving you scratch your head and wondering "what the hell have I just watched"?

If you have ANY other option to watch go for that one. I wasted my time on this one.