American romantic comedies have become as bland and boring as wine biscuits. Throw in a Kate Hudson and an Ashton Kutcher, set to mediocre and half-bake for 90 minutes. French romantic comedy, on the other hand, at least in the case of the uncharacteristically mainstream Heartbreaker, is more like a plate of macarons: it’s sugary, sure, and you know what you’re going to get, but it’s so indefatigably French it doesn’t matter. Even the formulaic makes for a stylish guilty pleasure here.
It certainly helps that the film rests on the charms of Romain Duris, one of France’s best-known actors, who is just as happy to send himself up as play the seductive cad. As Alex, the scruffy heartbreaker set to win the heart of Juliette (Vanessa Paradis), his performance as a dufus capable of transforming himself into a rogue helps to distract from the fact he has such a gimmicky job; he’s aided by his amusing accomplices (Julie Ferrier and François Damiens as a married couple committed to maintaining their own romance). Paradis is a cold, blank, beautiful slate, doing exactly as is expected of her as Duris chases after her against the romantic setting of Monte Carlo, in glamorous hotels, cars and, well, pizza joints.
The nature of Alex’s pursuit may be questionable – the film strains to find much wrong with Juliette’s fiancée – but there are plenty of laughs to be had, his scams paving the way for plenty of fast-paced physical comedy, 80s music and goofy homages to Dirty Dancing. This is fun, frothy screwball stuff that won’t demand much more cerebral participation than reading the subtitles. But, like Duris, it should charm your pants off.
By Rebecca Barry Hill, Flicks.co.nz
This film is like Ocean's 11 crossed with French farce, tinged with a touch of dramatic intensity. It shouldn't be good, but it is. If you liked Romain Duris (and all his sexually charged intensity) in "The Beat My Heart Skipped", and if you already know that Vanessa Paradis can be the French Lauren Bacall, then you're probably surprised that they are in a RomCom at all. But they are. And they're having a ball. This script is built like a Swiss timepiece, it goes about its highly entertaining business with real elegance. Everything fits, everything ties up, and yet it's not trite (well, a little bit!) or too expected. Fantastic locations, beautiful clothes, sleek cars, funny set pieces, snappy dialogue, good music, and even a few moments of genuine emotion - without doubt, the best movie right now to take a date to. Recommended.
My husband and I went to this movie and both loved it. Neither of us knew what it was about as we'd won tickets. We saw the promo poster and my husband was a little concerned it would be a girlie romance movie. Well, while it was romantic it was brilliantly funny with lots of laugh out loud moments. So, definitely suggest you get out there and see this one. Although in French with English subtitles you forgot that you were reading very soon into the movie. A great night out for anyone!
First I must admit rom-com are so not my type of film. And I saw this with friends who just wanted to switch off for the evening ... and luckily that's exactly what we did. It is fun, and it is charming. Romain Duris confirms he's a great actor, as it is quite an achievment for a "serious" actor to make people laugh, and he sure does. The chemistry between him and Vanessa Paradis is definitely there, and that's what makes the movie work, helped along by brilliantly funny second roles (the sister and her husband). Apparently an american remake is already underway ... I guess there's still a lot of people who cant read ... as I don't see any other valid point for a remake. As I said earlier I don't like rom-com in general, but I had a great time with my brain switched off.
A romantic-comedy that packs charm, humour and warmth in spades.
Slick entertainment is rarely as, yes, slickly entertaining as it is in Heartbreaker, a French romantic farce that is commercial cinema at its most successful.
Yes, Heartbreaker is diverting, intermittently charming and occasionally funny, but it is also a jumble of jammed-together notions. Unevenly paced, it goes on too many tangents to cohere as a persuasive comic fable about love and money.
Slickly orchestrated by director Pascal Chaumeil, Heartbreaker never leaves one in any doubt about its ultimate fairytale destination, although there are several amusing detours along the way.
If you fancy something a bit breezy and nothing too serious, Heartbreaker is the perfect remedy - and probably best you see it now, before the inevitable American remake hits our screens.
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 21st Apr 2011.
Release date: April 21st 2011.
We haven't received times for this movie in this location yet. However these are updated as cinemas announce them, so check back soon. Hopefully the lovely cinemas in your location will choose to play it shortly. ~Ed.
