Heartbreaker
Rating: 7/10
Cast: Vanessa Paradis, Romain Duris, Andrew Lincoln
Director: Pascal Chaumeil
A massive hit in native France, L'Arnacouer aka Heartbreaker est arrive here on the big screen.
Duris plays Alex, a charming, expert in seduction - who resembles a French Vinny Chase from Entourage.
He's hired by various parties to break up couples; you know the ones where friends believe their friends could do better - or they're not happy.
He's good at it - and makes a reasonable living out of it too, having set up a business with his sister and dumb witted brother in law.
But he's also got money problems and with debts mounting up, he decides to take a high paying job to split Juliette (Paradis) from her fiancée Jonathan (The Walking Dead's Andrew Lincoln).
When he's taken to Monaco, Alex reckons this job should be easy - however, Juliette manages to make the work hard for him and he becomes more invested in it than he realises.
Part screwball, part farce, part rom com and part drama, Heartbreaker tries to be everything to everyone - and for the most part succeeds. With the slickness of a heist film, this stylish caper zips along with some funny moments (a pastiche of Dirty Dancing and snippets of Wham add the comedy factor).
But the end result is something like a light breezy cappuccino. There's plenty of froth and little substance at the end.
Sure, you can see what's coming a mile off - but Duris makes a good job of Alex despite some scenes being a little over the top and silly.
Paradis has some appeal as Juliette - and Lincoln impresses as the suave nice guy Jonathan.
If you fancy something a bit breezy and nothing too serious, Heartbreaker is the perfect remedy - and probably best you see it now, before the inevitable American remake hits our screens.
