A slapstick French comedy from writer/director/actor Emmanuel Muoret (Shall We Kiss?, Change of Address, Venus and Fleur).
Jacques (Mouret) is a nitwit inventor whose sole obsession in life is chasing women. After his girlfriend Ariane (Frederique Bel) begins to reject his sexual advances, he is caught fantasising about a girl he met in a cafe, Elisabeth (Judith Godreche). While miffed, Ariane tries to free him of the obsession and encourages him to use all his wiles to try and seduce the girl. Jacques throws himself into the challenge, only to learn Elisabeth is in fact the daughter of the French President. He attempts to be suave in his seduction of the first daughter, but only succeeds in triggering one outrageous catastrophe after another.
The contemporary American romantic comedy is a rigid, formulaic beast these days. Even attempts to subvert the cliches come across as cliched. So while this French romcom is most likely packed with cliches of its own, it’s still a breath of fresh air in a world populated by the likes of The Proposal and The Ugly Truth.
Triple threat Emmuanuel Mouret (Shall We Kiss) writes, directs and stars here, and lines himself up with a torrent of insanely attractive French beauties. After his Botteceli blonde girlfriend (Frederique Bel) insists he sleep with a woman he accidentally seduced at a cafe, Jean-Jacques (Mouret) is surprised to discover the woman is the daughter of the French president, played by a luminously red-headed Judith Godreche, whom you may recall from Phil Janou’s Entropy.
Struggling to maintain his composure at a high-society dinner, he stumbles ass-backwards into a number of slap-sticky situations, which then finds him in the arms of the first daughter’s maid, played by another unfeasibly attractive French actress, the diminutive and charming Deborah Francois (The First Day of the Rest of Your Life).
Mouret himself, sporting Jake Gyllenhaal’s goldfish eyes and a po-faced expression as classic as French farce, makes for a mostly sympathetic protagonist, despite the surfeit of hotness that parades in front of him. His physical comedy is subtle but effective.
Please, Please Me has some more progressive ideas about fidelity than most American films like this, but that’s another welcome point of difference. And whilst the slight social humour might be a little lost on English-speaking audiences, this elicits more than its fair share of smiles.
By Dominic Corry, Flicks.co.nz
If you're after a little light romantic comedy,but you're fed up with the american cliche this could be the one for you. Set in Paris and with a cocktail party soundtrack, it is a very French film.
If you are a fan of Mouret's other work then you may find this to your taste, otherwise this instalment of his catalogue may not be the best place to begin.
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 13th May 2010.
Release date: May 13th 2010.
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.
