Il truffacuori

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).

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.

The title means "The Heartbreaker." This charming and smoothly executed if far-fetched farce/action/rom-com about a team of professional marriage-derailers-for-hire has won rave reviews along with top box office in France (Allociné critical rating 3.0 (72). As has already been written in a US review, this is exactly the kind of thing Hollywood loves to copy but never manages to do with the required Gallic lightness and elegance. Actually there's a slight overload of added slapstick and violence this time; still, the action movies on such well-greased wheels and the actors perform with such dash, the movie never ceases to entertain.

The premise: Duris and his sister (Julie Ferrier) and her husband (François Damiens) run an outfit specializing in breaking up impending weddings by showing the bride that her fiancé isn't as desirable a match as Duris. Duris, AKA Alex, withdraws with a touching story about how he's too heartbroken to be the one. Usually a rich father employs the team to perform this scam. Such is the case when Vanessa Paridis is about to marry Jonathan, a wealthy young Englishman (Andrew Lincoln). The job goes against Duris' basic rule never to break up a match when the couple is genuinely in love with each other -- as these two are. Also the deadline to stop the wedding is impossibly short. But the team takes it on nonetheless because of a major debt. Gangsters are threatening to do huge damage to Duris if he doesn't pay up very quickly.

Two gaps in the writing: it's not entirely clear why Paridis' father is so keen on destroying this match; and the team's elaborate high-tech methods are impossibly clever and complicated. However none of this is meant to be taken seriously. Much of the fun is in the ingenious tricks the team uses to follow Paradis' movements and give Duris opportunities to seduce her -- an outcome which she stubbornly resists till the very last moment. And then when she gives in, of course, he breaks another of his cardinal rules and falls in love with her; but it's all resolved in a lighthearted fashion.

A fun watch with definite US release potential, and in fact a US release is coming. Seen in Paris in April 2010 and again in a preview in NYC, when it seemed a little longer than it needed to be (there is a lot of repetition). But Duris' deftness as a comic actor, his physicality in the dancing bits, Paridis' charm and elegance, and François Damiens' sympathetic personality hold up and indeed inspire awe and admiration on repeat viewings.

I had the chance of attending this film's premiere in Lisbon, that counted with the director's presence. He was pleased that his main goal of entertaining the audience was fulfilled. And that's just it.

Chaumeil hands us a smooth and enjoyable work, perfect for a Sunday afternoon. Nothing more than a funny and cool romantic comedy with subtle slashes of a different action because of the 'breaking relationships' plot, always in a soft touch. I point out the chemistry between the two main actors, one of the film's main qualities, and specially Romain Duris that is becoming an essential actor of french contemporary cinema, commercial as independent.

A 'feel-good' movie destined to amuse the public and that achieves well his mission in a dynamic and pleasuring way - 6/10.

Heartbreaker (2010)

The latest Romain Duris romantic comedy, which is a kind of backwards "Hitch" and it's even more fun. It takes a short while to establish the central cast of characters, but the premise is made clear right away. The leading man seduces women who are about to marry the "wrong" guy. He then steps out of the way, leaving the woman high and dry. Both the "wrong" engagement and his own new involvement are on ice.

This is more hilarious than such a formula film should be. It's a kind of escapist comedy, but with such good pedigree and filmmaking chops you really get swept away. Duris can be really a charmer, and his two sidekicks are hilarious as well as heartwarming.

The fact it's mostly set in Monte Carlo gives it a compact, glitzy charm (far more glitzy than Bahrain, for my money, speaking of money). The plot goes as planned at first, of course. But inevitably things go very wrong. After some last minute swerves and laughs, things seem to go right, until the final ending, which I'll leave to you. It really is like "Hitch" or "Failure to Launch," which set up a kind of protocol for how everyone should behave, and within that set of rules people misbehave. It's the latest kind of screwball comedy formula, and a dependable one, especially this well made.

Most of it is in French, but a bit is in English, too, for the subtitle averse. And all the music is in English (interestingly, but typically). But never mind too much. You could almost get it all without words. Funny, warm, witty, well made fluff stuff.