Jour J

I was pleasantly surprised with this comedy.

It's light hearted Some of the sceneries in country France are just wonderful !

I gave this film 5 points (out of 10) for the landscapes and the beautiful photography. The characters have charm and are cute looking, but the story doesnt help at all. It consists of one cliche after another. It is extremely predictable from almost the beginning. It COULD have been interesting, had they altered the boring formula.

I have to admit, I did not finish this film. But, for me, the first 20 minutes of a comedy are essential to recognize if good laughter awaits or not. In this case, what made me lose all my interest from the very beginning was plagiarism: the story begins at a costume party and when we are getting to know the characters, one of them reproduces exactly Barney Stinson's from How I met your Mother "hot crazy scale". EXACTLY the same joke and graphic representation. So sad. Later on, that same character refers to his friend as "a lobster, 'cause lobsters aré faithfull"... Come on! We have all seen "Friends" (over and ovee again)! There's no sign of a cure reference or fan wink, nothing. So it's only an obvious and poor theft. Apart from this, "Jour J" lacks grace and funny characters, and flashbacks aré way too grotesque (and definetly not funny). So, my suggestion Is, do not waste your precious minutes.

Jour J was never intended to be anything more than a vacuous romantic comedy, and I think it does that very well. Reem Kherici (who also directed and co-wrote the film) shines as the protagonist, Juliette, and it's great to see Nicolas Duvauchelle playing something other than a crook or a bent cop (or both).

Maybe I don't expose myself to enough of this kind of comedy, but I found some of the slapstick scenes to be laugh out loud funny. Notably (and don't worry, these are not spoilers): the wedding scene at the beginning, the prospective bride's father slamming open the window shutters of his coastal home, and the dog chasing its ball at the wedding planner's office. You'll know exactly why I singled out these scenes once you've seen the film.

It's just a shame that one of the writers had to taint everyone involved with glaring plagiarism. The infringing content only represents a tiny portion of the film, but it's hard to believe a production can reach completion without someone noticing. Perhaps it's time Mandarin Cinéma introduced better checks and balances to prevent the same thing happening again - certainly considering it happened with another of their films: Pattaya. The same writer was responsible too!