Cannes Confidential

First off, if this was supposed to be a spoof and the female lead was intentionally acting horribly, I apologize and the rest of the public should have a peak. However, if this was in any way suppose to be serious TV, someone should be fired immediately. Perhaps if they are French speakers, they should've spoke French and put in some sub titles. No value was added with their speaking English, which they certainly spoke well but that was what they clearly were focused on, speaking that is, and not acting. What an absolute abomination and worse, waste of a beautiful back drop. For a travel brochure, its great, for entertainment; well we made through 11 minutes before we gave up. Even Jamie Bamber, a fine English actor, could not save it.

Overall, I have enjoyed this so far. There is a mix of murder mystery via police (and a questionable guy who seems to be good intentioned) and action, with a beautiful setting in Cannes.

The lead male character and actor is great, and some other characters and guest characters are fine, but unfortunately the lead woman detective character is overly serious and mean. Her dialogue and delivery is often fairly corny as well. Similar issue for her boss, who at least is on the screen far less.

Those behind the show likely wanted the detective to have a heavy French accent (when speaking English) to make it feel a bit more realistic as it's set in south France, but it still feels odd there is almost no French dialogue at all, including from that lead detective. I think adding some would benefit the show and I hope they can incorporate some in future episodes if the already completed episodes don't have any.

I'll continue watching and update my score and review at the end of the season.

Side note, the question below the user reviews asks, "Was this review helpful?" Not, "do you agree with the score they gave?" My score wasn't even that high, but since it's not below a 5 and mentions some positives, those who completely hate this show are using "No" like a downvote.

But (as you may have guessed), I didn't. Let me explain why.

This is classic detective-fun-glorious scenery-not to take seriously crime series. Main actors are very attractive and obviously the french scenery is very beautiful.

If it didn't take itself seriously and had a bit of comidic tone it might have worked better, for example the Mallorca Files are excellent series.

Here though, the main female protagonist is way too young to be a lieutenant, she is always overdressed for the occation (ie arriving at the crime scene with high heel boots like she is going to a party) and she is also mainly being pissed of about everything. Last but not least, she cannot act.

Bamber is ok, he seems charming , not over the top but the writers have him restrained in terms of his part as a counterweight to the Lucie Lucas importance to the series.

It might have been an entertaining series but the characters are dull, the crime story not interesting enough and the final product is more of a miss than a hit.

Alas, Cannes Confidential, besides its beautiful scenery, is a bust.

The women were cast too young and with ridiculous outfits.

The plot involving the father is confusing and doesn't seem necessary.

I only watched this show because of Jamie Bamber. This is so beneath him. First of all, for me to keep watching, he'd have to be in every scene and of course he isn't- he undoubtedly spends most of his time trying to line up another job or changing agents.

He's gorgeous, so with him and the scenery, it's not a total write-off.

I say cast some believable police detectives and feature Jamie in another series.

I am a murder mysteries addict. I have BritBox, I have MHZ, and Acorn. I watch German language detective shows in France, English detective stories anywhere in the world, but the accents were so bad that Cc was required. I could barely get through the first 10 minutes much less all the way through the show as the lighting and cinematography were terrible. At the first crime scene, The camera was literally on the floor looking up at the two detectives talking, why? The two detectives are clones of each other. Exotic ratty haired, puffy lipped 20 somethings women. And their outfits??? This is France for heaven sakes.... why are the detectives walking around with cheap blouses, super tight jeans and silver booties? At least it wasn't like 10 years ago when all the female detectives wore black pants, black jackets and a tank top with half their boobs sticking out. Now the focus seems to be the booty. In The first half hour there were several shots showing the detective walking away with the lens focused on her butt incased in the tightest jeans ever. I don't want to sound like a prude but it would be tolerable if there was anything going on. According to other reviewers nothing seems to improve in the next episodes....so I will stop here. BTW, many comparisons with Mallorca Murders...and except for similar european coastal towns, Mallorca is great. Especially after the first two episodes and the protagonist are comfortable with each other. I like that there is chemistry between the German and English detectives without it falling into a cliched romance.