The Valet (La Doublure)
by Francis Veber
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Alice Taglioni, Daniel Auteuil, Gad Elmaleh, Kristin Scott Thomas, Virginie LedoyenDirector: Francis Veber
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Subtitled); French (Original Language)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 85 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-09-18
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures
Movie Reviews of The Valet (La Doublure)
Movie Review: fun but occasionally strained romp through Paris
Summary: 3 Stars
The featherweight French comedy, "The Valet," harkens back to those more halcyon days when frenetic pacing and farcical misunderstandings often made for comic gold. And while "The Valet" may not be exactly golden (it`s barely gold-plated, if you want to know the absolute truth), it's still a moderately diverting trifle - provided you don't ask more of it than it can reasonably deliver, that is.
The protagonist is Francois Pignon (Gad Elmaleh), a struggling, average-looking chap, who works as a parking valet at a high-end restaurant located right across the street from the Eiffel Tower. Francois' simple life is turned upside down when, through a fluke of fate, he is hired to play the lover of a French supermodel (Alice Taglioni) whose long-running affair with a married billionaire CEO (Daniel Auteuil) has recently come to light in the Paris tabloids. This leads to a great deal of complications for all involved, including Francois' pretty young love interest (Virginie Ledoyen) who, unfortunately, has not been let in on the ruse.
For all its undeniable Gallic charms, "The Valet," written and directed by Francis Veber, is probably funnier in concept than it is in execution. It delivers its two best jokes right upfront - a wonderfully inventive visual gag that introduces the main character, and a clever routine about a doctor who is more sick than his patients - but that's all within the first ten minutes, and the movie never reaches those comic heights again. Still, if you're partial to a sitcom-level scenario in which people run around from one contrived set-up and telegraphed sight-gag to the next - all against colorful Parisienne backdrops - then this might well be the movie for you. If not, you might want to skip it altogether and seek out something more to your liking.
Summary of The Valet (La Doublure)
A light, zippy farce from Francis Veber (writer/director of The Closet and The Dinner Game), The Valet is another masterful comic escalation of lies and pretenses. When a billionaire (Daniel Auteuil, Cache, The Eighth Day) gets photographed next to his supermodel mistress (Alice Taglioni), he tries to persuade his wife (Kristin Scott Thomas, The English Patient) that the supermodel must be with the other man in the picture--a parking valet (Gad Elmaleh) who just happens to be walking by. Naturally, the billionaire has to follow through by setting the valet and the supermodel up as a couple, lest his wife's detective uncover the truth. The valet agrees, but not because he wants to cozy up to the beautiful girl; he hopes that the money he'll be paid will win the heart of the bookstore owner he's in love with (Virginie Ledoyen, The Beach, 8 Femmes). The sneaky machinations of the characters multiply and cascade with delicious results, particularly the hapless envy of the valet's best friend (Dany Boon, My Best Friend). The Valet isn't quite as brilliantly orchestrated as The Closet (some of the plot threads feel underbaked), but it's still sly and wonderfully engaging. Don't judge Veber by the hamfisted Hollywood remakes of his films Les Comperes and Le Jouet; Veber's films have a deft sweetness that American filmmakers just can't recreate. --Bret FetzerFrancis Veber (The Dinner Game and The Closet), the living master of French farce, has combined his classic elements of hilarious slapstick with quick-witted dialogue in the new film The Valet. The tale begins when Fran?ois Pignon, (Gad Elmaleh) a restaurant car service valet at a posh Paris hotel gets caught-up in a billionaire industrialist's sneaky infidelities. Veber's plot quickly turns on the fall guy, when Fran?ois - an innocent passerby - is photographed by a paparazzo leaving the hotel along with Pierre Levasseur (Daniel Auteuil), the wealthy tycoon and his beautiful supermodel mistress Elena (Alice Taglioni.
In a desperate attempt to avoid an ugly divorce with his wife Christine, (Kristin Scott Thomas) Pierre's scheming lawyer Maitre Foix (Richard Berry) concocts an outrageous plan. By paying the valet a large sum of money to live with Pierre's mistress, the two men hope to mislead the tabloids and most importantly hide the affair from his wife. Meanwhile, the ruthless Pierre must convince the stunning Elena to live with Fran?ois in his cruddy apartment until the dust settles. All the while, continuing to reassure his wife that the other man in the photo, Fran?ois, is really Elena's boyfriend.
Francis Veber's intricate and lively plot, tick-tock timing and variety of unusual characters make The Valet a hilariously good time.
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