Paris-Manhattan
Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5
Starring: Alice Taglioni, Patrick Bruel, Marine Delterme, Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, Michel Aumont, Marie-Christine Adam
Directed by: Sophie Lellouche
Running time: 77 minutes
Parental guidance: sexual sequence.
Opens Friday, March 8 in French with English subtitles at: Cavendish and Forum cinemas; in French at: Beaubien, Longueuil, Pont Viau and Quartier Latin cinemas.
MONTREAL - Woody Allen may have been a passing inspiration for another French film opening this week (Superstar), but he?s the muse of Sophie Lellouche?s first feature, Paris-Manhattan.
The link between the two cities mentioned in the title is in spirit only. Lellouche?s film doesn?t travel to Manhattan, yet she would love nothing more than for her lightweight romantic comedy to incarnate some of the magic of Allen?s iconic film. Easier said than done.
Alice (Alice Taglioni) is an Allen fanatic, a devoted fan since the age of 15. She has a giant poster of the director in her apartment, and ? borrowing a trick from the 1972 film Play It Again, Sam ? talks to him about everything.
Unlike that film (in which Allen interacted with a ghostly Humphrey Bogart), we don?t see Allen for most of this movie, nor does Lellouche try to fake it with a stand-in. Instead, his voice is heard off-screen, speaking lines from his films in response to Alice?s queries about her non-existent love life.
Trouble is, Taglioni is no Woody Allen. She is a suitable enough lead for this kind of predictable romance, but she?s too primped and pretty for us to believe Lellouche?s attempt to make her into a tomboy at the outset of her story, in which she falls for the suave Pierre (Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, who also appears in Superstar) at a party, only to have him fall for her sister H?l?ne (Marine Delterme) before the end of the night.
A decade later, Pierre and H?l?ne are married, and Alice is chronically single. She runs the family pharmacy, handing out DVDs of Allen?s films to cure various ills. Her father (Michel Aumont) tries in vain to set her up with every bachelor in sight.
At a party, again, she meets Victor (Patrick Bruel), a cynical alarm specialist who has worked for her father. They trade banter, with Victor admitting that he has never seen a Woody Allen film ? sacrilege! But before things have a chance to take off, he has put her in a cab and the night is over.
To further complicate their courtship, Alice soon falls in love with the handsome Vincent (Yannick Soulier), who woos her with Cole Porter songs, chocolate and walks in the park.
Will Alice stick with stylish but vapid Vincent, or will she see the light and go for gruff but sensitive Victor? I know ? the suspense is killing you. Add in irrelevant subplots about whether Alice?s brother-in-law is cheating on her sister; a mysterious rich boy dating her niece; and her mother?s alcohol problem, and you?ll still be desperately seeking something to sink your teeth into.
Not even a late-film cameo by Allen himself can bring much-needed edge to the proceedings. Though it tries to pay homage to a comic genius, Paris-Manhattan never quite makes the connection.
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