Des Porto Ricains à Paris

It's not the worse movie I ever saw, but had the potential to be so much better.

You see the title of the movie and the first thing you think is that this is a fish out of water comedy. Knowing who Guzman is I was expecting The New York raised Latino to have a culture clash in Paris' hi style scene, but the movie really does nothing with that idea.

He plays a cop who gets hired by a Fashion company based in France to track down a fancy hang bag prototype that was stolen and is being held for ransom.

Guzman with Edgar Garcia play partners and brother-in-laws in a buddy cop style that is obvious, but not done well. It was a badly done cop movie as the cops really did no cop work. The little that they did was really little for the movie as a whole.

What the movie does do is point out why we love Luis Guzman as a supporting character in pictures. Guzman being the lead character in this movie doesn't seem to be interesting, yet it works and makes the film watchable, but not great. It's in comparison with another Latino supporting character actor, Danny Trejo when he did Machete, it's everything you like about him as a supporting actor.

And shout out to Edgar Garcia who was a good fit for Guzman in the buddy cop relationship but the movie should have gave them more to do if that's the genre they are trying to achieve.

So overall, the movie makes little sense, but it will be fun and enjoyable if you like Guzman.

This is not a film that everybody was looking forward. This something an unexpected film from the new crew, but the actors were somewhat known to us. They are mostly supporting cast from the mainstream films, but they played the main characters in this little film. A simple cop film that tells the story of two NYPD detectives who were hired to solve a case of stolen handbag in the Paris. So they pack their bags and land in the city of love. It's like a vacation for them, but they aware of their assignment and they begin working on their own way to find the thief. The rest is the small adventures filled with the decent comedies.

The film was short and there were no mega stunt sequences. Not because it was a small budget film, but it was aimed to keep everything simple. More like in the real society, but improvised it by adding some comedies. I don't know Luis Guzman ever did a lead role, but this is first of his for me and I enjoyed his part along with his partner. The praise must go to the effort, not for the overall film. Because I knew it won't be another 'Bad Boys', so I braced myself to watch it and then I found it better. It is a lot better than many craps from the recent time, so it is worth watching at once, but don't force yourself.

6/10

Puerto Ricans in Paris surprised me when I saw it at the Gasparilla International Film Festival. This is because Rosie Perez was on hand to discuss the movie...which was great. However, she was not a major character in the film! I loved seeing this youthful actress but I would have preferred seeing Edgar Garcia, as he was my favorite actor in this cute little film.

When the movie begins, Luis (Luis Guzman) and Eddie (Edgar Garcia) are both very successful undercover cops in New York who investigate cases involving counterfeit designer products. Because of this, the pair of Puerto Rican cops are asked by folks to come to France to help them investigate a case where some designer bags have been stolen before they are released to the public. In other words, unless the company pays ransom, the market will soon be flooded by knockoff purses. While it's not exactly believable that the French folks would ask these two to investigate instead of just having French police or private security films look into the matter, it doesn't really matter...this is just a nice fish out of water buddy picture.

Once in Paris, Luis is completely out of place. He's brash, a bit obnoxious and fancies himself a ladies' man. Unfortunately, he's a complete failure in the city of lights...and soon he's a bit jealous of Eddie. After all, although Eddie is happily married, there is a gorgeous model who adores him....so why can't Luis the bachelor get any of the ladies to look at him?! Perhaps it is because Eddie is just an incredibly sweet guy...the sort of character who loves his wife, loves his kids and is rarely seen in films. He's strong and likable...and his character certainly was a huge plus for the film. However, it's not all Garcia...the writing and directing are also rather nice. Plus, over time Guzman's character grows...and grows on you.

Will this film change your life? Certainly not. But while it's slight, it's also a film that is hard not to enjoy. A nice date film or a movie worth seeing if you want to see something a bit different. Plus, I can't help but admire a picture this enjoyable considering that it was shot in only 17 days...something that just seems impossible!

I'm a big Luis Guzman fan, and now a big Edgar Garcia fan too.

This is a fun romp around Paris - with two funny and kind guys.

NOT enough of Rosie Perez!

So if you need/want some laughs and don't want to have to think a lot, this is the movie for you!

I would like to stress at the outset that Puerto Ricans in Paris is not a good movie. If you take only one thing from this review, it must be this. I'm going to say some things in the paragraphs that follow -- I may even say I enjoyed it -- but let there be no uncertainty. Movie. Not good. Okay.

So here's the rub. There's a certain primal pleasure in watching a film like Puerto Ricans in Paris, an unabashed B-movie buddy comedy that knows what it wants to be, aspires to nothing more, and delivers just about what you'd expect. Granted, it's abysmally weak by ordinary standards, but let's be realistic -- you won't wander into this one expecting Fellini. From those to whom little is given, little is required. Or something.

The title pretty much sums up the premise, but here goes: Luis Guzman and Edgar Garcia play two NYPD detectives working the counterfeit luxury goods beat. When a Parisian arrives with a special request -- help a famous designer (Alice Taglioni) find a missing prototype handbag worth millions -- the pair jets off to Paris (macarons, bro?) and vapid screwball comedy ensues.

I enjoyed the early promise of the counterfeit luxury goods angle, since I recently read Deluxe: How Luxury Lost its Luster -- and a surprising number of details in this film actually ring true: like a corporate heavy ousting a designer to profit from her name, and the faithful portrayal of Canal Street merchants and their backroom dens. That said, I haven't the faintest idea why this luxury-goods storyline was paired with overt Puerto Rican ethnic humor -- it's as though two separate spec scripts were shuffled together and promptly green-lit. Not that it matters much, since the luxury angle fades into the background right quick.

The Parisian storyline is simplistic and frankly not too important, a basic whodunnit in which even the filmmakers regularly lose interest. Guzman and Garcia go through the motions of screening various suspects (often donning ethnic disguises, because easy laughs) and in the meantime chastise one another, have heart-to-hearts about the meaning of family, and so on. Characters come and go; some story lines are left unfinished.

The protagonists are simplistic and one-dimensional, but likable nonetheless. Guzman is the ladies' man of the pair, a perpetual bachelor and womanizer -- a role that's frankly hard to take very seriously given that he's not exactly George Clooney yet he's slinging more game than a Spiderman reboot on some very young, very attractive French women. (To be fair, he has limited success -- his shlubby appearance paired with aspirational macking could've been a punchline here, but I don't think it was.) Garcia by contrast is married with kids, and we taste his workaday struggles when his wife (Rosie Perez) laments yet another unobserved anniversary. In Paris, Garcia's loyalties are tested when the beautiful designer takes an interest in him -- but the film stops short of ever causing Garcia a real problem in this regard. (One senses that family and loyalty are particularly sacrosanct here -- we mine Garcia's plight for gentle laughs, but never place him anywhere near risk of actual infidelity.) Secondary characters are double-thick stereotypes. Yes, this is ground-floor, feel-good xenophobic comedy for Trump Nation.

This movie struggles to strike the right rhythm with its two-fish-out-of-water premise. And we're never really sure if Guzman and Garcia are bumbling or actually on their game. Director Ian Edelman also does his best to reinforce an American tourist's fantasy of Paris, all gleaming cobblestones and streetlamps and whimsical bicycles and fancy hotels and baguettes and Eiffels and romance. (The less that's said about this, the better.)

Production quality isn't great. Much of the film looks like it was shot on an iPhone 6 and with about the same budget. The end credits would have benefited from an undergrad intern, ten minutes, and a free trial of Final Cut Pro. Puerto Ricans in Paris is, however, mercifully short, clocking in at just over 1 hour 20 minutes.

But all that said, and perhaps in spite of myself, I still enjoyed this movie. Puerto Ricans in Paris is just wholly unpretentious. This is real, working-man authenticity in film form. I mean, look at the title. That's real honesty. And while I wouldn't send you to see it, I also won't blame you if you do.

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