The Dinner Game (1998, France)

As I was watching this film, it occurred to me that it seemed very familiar. Turns out that it was the inspiration for the American movie Dinner for Schmucks. This is a perfect example of how much more class the French have than Americans. This movie was pretty entertaining, whereas the American one just looks tasteless.

Pierre and his friends have a weekly meal where they must bring an "idiot," competing for the best one. Pierre's idiot meets him at house (and how he gets him there is convincing enough to be believable), but Pierre's had a back injury and can't go. His idiot tries to help him, and naturally does everything wrong and aggravates every situation.

It's pretty funny for what it is. I'm a little iffy on comedies that rely on mocking people for laughs, but because it ends (and this is not really a spoiler) with the jerk learning from the idiot, it works out okay. This is another very French one. Didn't like it as much as the last one I watched, but still enjoyable.

Rating: 3.0

The Valet / La Doublure (2006, France)

How very French. A wealthy man is cheating on his wife (a majority shareholder in his company) with a supermodel. A valet proposes to his girlfriend, and she says no. And then the wealthy man hires the valet to pretend to be with the supermodel, in order to fool the wife.

It was really rather entertaining, as only a comedy of errors—and a French film—can be. All of the characters are very well developed and continue to develop throughout the film. However the "happily ever after" just doesn't work out in a way that makes any sense, which rather killed the movie for me.

The score was composed by Alexandre Desplat, who is one of my favorite composers. Strangely, I believe this is the first French film I've seen that he's composed the score for. But it was truly wonderful. Very upbeat and great fun.

Also, I'm getting quite fond of Gad Elmaleh. I need to see some more of his work.

Rating: 3.0