Cannes Confidential

We wanted to like it. But a little too woke with actresses that can't act, who lack any femininity, and spend all the time fist fighting and kick boxing the men (the bad guys). Beautiful scenery on the French Riviera. That's it. The lead actress has zero charisma. The other actress hates everyone and takes the fun out of everything. There's no pleasantness in this shows. No sexy undercurrents. They tried to make a Mallorca Files but missed in every aspect. The Mallorca Files is the way it should have been done. Recast the whole thing with characters that have effervescence and panache. And don't have every episode end with ladies duking it out, and badly I might say.

The show had potential but suffers from a serious problem with the writing and acting. The dialog is wooden and doesn't ring true. The female lead detective isn't likeable or interesting. Rather than being irascible but somewhat charming she is just unpleasant. She is not a credible actor - or at least not in English. Often I could not understand her - shows like Death in Paradise have successfully integrated French speaking actors into the series by making sure they are understandable to an English speaking audience. Her female associate simply mumbles and is faced with trying to deliver cliche ridden lines. It is fortunate that we can't hear her most of the time.

I have only suffered through episode 1 - I am not sure that I can face Episode 2. The production values are excellent and of course the scenery is wonderful. It must have been expensive to film there. Too bad they didn't spend some of that money on writers and a decent co-star to match Jamie Bamber.

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.

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.

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.