Vanessa Paradis in Heartbreaker. Photo / Supplied
Unabashedly commercial, outrageously predictable, this blockbuster French rom-com, is also irresistibly self-confident.
It's already slated for a US remake, the success of which will rather depend on the casting of the lead male role: the combination of sex appeal and self-mockery is in short supply among Hollywood stars. But Duris,
a heartthrob making his comedy debut, gets the mix just right.
He plays Alex Lippi, an anti-Cupid - his profession is breaking up relationships to order by sweeping women off their feet. His clients are typically parents concerned that a beloved daughter is about to get unwisely hitched, but he has standards: he won't accept commissions motivated by religious or racial prejudice - and he makes a point of never sleeping with the target.
The sexist set-up (only women make bad relationship choices, and they will change their minds at a glimpse of our handsome hero) should not spoil the ride. The comic premise is that, if the course of true love never did run smooth, the course of fake love is bound to hit a speed bump.
So it proves when Alex and his team are hired to derail the wedding of flower-empire heiress Juliette (Paradis) and her noble but boring English intended. Alex gets himself hired as her bodyguard and finds out her likes and dislikes - the former, including both George Michael and Dirty Dancing, provide rich plot material - as a way of accomplishing his mission. You know what happens next of course, but the film has such a jaunty flair that it doesn't matter one bit. Having established, in a hilarious prologue sequence, how Alex and his married-couple of sidekicks work, the film never lets up. The team ticks like a Swiss watch as the prankster partners place Juliette in danger so Alex can be her saviour - and potential Romeo.
It's worth mentioning, that some plot points don't make sense and the parts don't quite cohere as well as they would have if Wilder or Capra (whose It Happened One Night is mentioned as an inspiration) had been in charge.
But the performances keep it effortlessly aloft and the film's smart enough to make Alex less assured and self-confident than Juliette, which is a nice touch. A guilty pleasure, but a pleasure nonetheless.
LOWDOWN
Stars: 4/5
Cast: Romain Duris, Vanessa Paradis, Julie Ferrier, Francois Damiens
Director: Pascal Chaumeil
Running time: 101 mins
Rating: M (Offensive language, sexual references). In French with English subtitles
Verdict: See it before they remake it
-TimeOut
