Heartbreaker (L'arnacoeur)

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A man (Romain Duris) is hired to break up couples by seducing the woman.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Romain Duris, Vanessa Paradis, Julie Ferrier, Francois Damiens, Helena Noguerra, Andrew Lincoln, Jacques Frantz, Amandine Dewasmes, Jean-Yves Lafesse, Jen-Marie Paris

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. This romantic-comedy is France's entry into the Failure to Launch category. Meaning, it's impossible in every way, from the ridiculous premise about a non-existent job, to the cheesy romantic dialogue, that even the most passionate of French women would never fall for. But there's something about it that still manages to charm the pants off of you.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: If dialogue like, "You've awakened me, I feel alive again... But it's too late for me. You, you deserve better than what I can give," doesn't get you laughing, then try to imagine it being said at the end of a first date.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: No, but the fake crying the actors do will make you cringe.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Cutest use of spelling in a title (see original language title). You see, in French, the word for a swindler is "arnaqueur," which is pronounced the same way the French title of this movie would be pronounced if it were a real word. But what they did, instead of spelling it correctly, was to combine the word swindle (arnac) with the word for heart (coeur)-- get it?! He's a heart swindler!!!

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Romain Duris is currently one of the biggest stars in France. I've always enjoyed his movies, but I've never understood why France picked him. He's always reminded me of my first love, who I never found particularly attractive. In this movie, he is regularly referred to as extremely pulchritudinous, and he acts like he knows he's gifted with good-looks. I tried to just go with it, but in the end, the only line that rang true to me was when a bartender asked how a guy like him could end up with a girl like Vanessa Paradis, who in real life is married to Johnny Depp, and is absolutely his equal in the looks department, despite a gap the size of a tooth in between her two front teeth.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Very Hollywood.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Apparently the original writer, Laurent Zeitoun, got the idea for this story when one of his cousins was gonna marry a jackass, and he joked that they should hire an actor to step in and break them up. While I agree that that is a great way to come up with an original screenplay idea, it's still a terrible idea for a screenplay.

Q: Is there anything else worth mentioning about the movie?

A: Tonally, this movie is reminiscent of the Audrey Tatou vehicle Priceless (hors de prix). I thought that movie was okay with a few good jokes, but ultimately pretty silly, but other people who saw it and mentioned it to me over the years almost unanimously enjoyed it more than they had expected they would. Because the response to that film turned out so positively, I expect this little French goof to have a similar effect on people.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/heartbreaker-larnacoeur/10026691/trailers

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Adam

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A romance develops between a man with Asperger's Syndrome (Hugh Dancy) and his beautiful neighbor (Rose Byrne).

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Hugh Dancy, Rose Byrne, Peter Gallagher, Amy Irving, Frankie Faison

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. While the movie clearly tries to shed light on what it is to live with Asperger's Syndrome, it's unclear if the filmmaker is trying to create sympathy for the bearers of this mental condition, or if this is a cautionary tale warning the rest of us to stay away from them.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: If you see any blurbs describing this film as a "romantic-comedy" (as I did), I would advise you never to read the trash-rags on which that was printed again, as a film is required to have jokes, in order to qualify for that label.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: It makes me sad to think that if this film's depiction of Asperger's is correct, no one should ever date a person who has it... On the bright side, since one of the key elements of Asperger's is that you can't tell how other people are feeling, at least you would never have to know that you are not loved.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Not to go back to the whole "Half-retard" thing (see Tropic Thunder), but clearly Hugh Dancy took this role in the hopes that he would get recognized by award-givers everywhere. Unfortunately, his forced performance is one of the things that worked against the movie's success.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Not only is Hugh Dancy's performance uneven, and way too autistic to represent the true functionality of a person with Asperger's, but he's also not nearly as attractive when he doesn't use his English accent. Rose Byrne proves to be a TV actress, at best... Although, I've never seen her on TV, and guest reviewer Russ says she's no good at that either.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Since the director is also the writer, I have to blame him for the bad performances, as he had to have known the right way to deliver the lines, and wasn't able to get the actors to do it. If Hugh Dancy, for example, had simply trusted the words in the script, and said them like a normal person, instead of adding so many actorish mannerisms to them, the words alone could've gotten his social awkwardness across in a much more believable way. It's called trusting the script.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: For once, the script was better than the movie. Not by much, mind you, but with stronger actors, it could have been ever so slightly more compelling. And perhaps I would've understood what the author was trying to tell his audience about people who have Asperger's. Because I find it hard to believe that he went to the trouble of writing a film, raising money for it, going through an arduous production and post-production process, doing the festival circuit, and finding a distributor, just so that I could take away the message, "Don't bother with these people, they're not worth the effort."

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/search/adam/trailers

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