French Girl

'' French Girl '' is a romantic comedy about a man who follows his French Canadian girlfriend back to Canada, where he meets her parents and her ex who tries to get between them.

Surprisingly, the movie is not that bad. It has some funny moments, it is romantic enough to be believable, and it has an interesting concept. Yes, it is not original, as plenty rom coms were founded on the basis of meeting the parents or even having a cultural shock when they do due to their cultural differences. And yet, this one manages to be subbtle and funny.

On the other hand, there were some rushed moments and the ending was just okay.

This is a very unfair rating for this film.

Do we not enjoy a cheesy rom com anymore? This movie was par for the course and a prototypical Zack Braff role where he plays the protagonist who you root for, and laugh at, as he continues to get in his own way. Think his character throughout nine seasons of scrubs. This movie had a similar plot line to a movie that he did with Jason Bateman, the ex, add a more attractive, villain, Vanessa, Hudgens, and a lot more spoken French requiring reading subtitles. But if you like that movie, or the Last Kiss, or Garden State, then this movie is also for you.

Let's be honest, I did not care for French Girl. Why? It was too long. In fact over two hours which is why I had to fast forward through it. What else? It really would have helped if they would give translations to the French used throughout the film. Finally the lead actor Zach Braff ( Gordon) is basically a man-child and not the least bit funny. What did I like? The ladies: Both are hot. Evelyne Brochu ( who reminds me of Julie Delpy an actress I always loved), and Vanessa Hudgens. Plus the shots of Quebec City a beautiful City to say the least. The craziest thing are the opinion of the reviewers here. 10/10 by a couple of them. That should be reserved for classic comedies like Liabled Lady, Animal House, Trading Places and The Whole Nine Yards ( a great comedy filmed in Canada). The only funny scene is when Evenyle punches Vanessa in the nose. But guess what? The 3 Stooges did it better. 3/10 stars. 1 for each lady 1 for Quebec City.

For the English original version, Canadian French characters keep their own voices and speak Québécois - the dialect of French speaking people in Québec and a large part of French Canadian outside Québec. Nice.

Ridiculously, for the French version, there are no Canadian translation, only a translation from France. Then Québécois characters are dubbed in Paris French - which they proudly named True French - instead of keeping the Canadian French voices. So if you are a Québécois and you don't want to feel that the New York guy is visiting Paris, listen to the original soundtrack and put French subtitles to understand the English characters.

I was looking forward to this film as I love Quebed City and Quebec in general. I have ancestors from Beauport. But I wanted to stop watching 10 minutes into it. Why would a beautiful, talented, accomplished young woman be at all interested in a neurotic, weak, candyass loser like Gordon? It's just too preposterous to suspend one's disbelief in order to enjoy at least the scenery in the film. The storyline displalys one cliche after another. I don't understand how scripts like this get made. No, wait, I do: because Hollywood producers are all neurotic, weak candyasses who were able to move on from their careers in car sales or the clothing business or corporate law through nepotism or fraternity connections.