Quatre étoiles

This may be indeed the worst film billed as a serious feature to have ever been made. Besides the ridiculous "love story" between two disgusting characters, the plot proceeds without giving any regard to the several propositions (some of them admittedly intriguing) which are made at the film's start. As the standards of production are up to the commercial circuit, one does not feel immediately tempted to click out the DVD and go on to some more rewarding chore. Thus proceeds the expectation that, somehow, the apparently random sequences of scenes - some of them slightly funny, mainly due to the performance of the Formula 1 retired driver - will wrap up in some slightly logical way. No way. The ending is so absurd, that I felt inclined to shoot at my TV set. Of course, this would only add injury to the insult.

It's so awful it's not logical; the character of Stéphane is never charming, gentle or other nice adjective, which would make me believe Frassau could fall in love with the guy. He is not even handsome, and he doesn't have the ability of saying the worst things one can imagine and still be cute and charming. He uses her, he slaps at her, and she stays with him like a puppy with his master. I must say that as a girl I was offended, to fall in love with a guy like that one has to be or mad or desperate, and very in both cases. The scenario is not beautiful; there is not even formal beauty in the takes, or something that would make the film worthy. Sorry to say this, but at least is true for me, if I could grade it with a 0 I would

Do not try to compare this movie with the eyes of watching American cinema. It is a simple and funny french movie. Cluzet is perfect, Garcia and Carré are great and the scenery lives up to the beauty of Cote D'Azur. Yes, the end was due for the rest of the movie but, who cares?

This french movie is not so bad.There's maybe not so interesting and very regular,or even a little bit Hollywood,in the beginning,but it's gonna be cool after that.If you like movies made by France,so buy this movie on DVD and watch this.That's my recommendation.The acting is good,the directing of the picture is also good enough.This is comedy and you find yourself really funny till the end of the film. " "When I was just as far as I could walk

From here today,

There was an hour

All still

When leaning with my head against a flower

I heard you talk.

Don't say I didn't, for I heard you say--

You spoke from that flower on the windowsill--

Do you remember what it was you said?" Robert Frost"

There is something wrong with today's french cinema, and it perhaps comes from what's been it's most fascinating side since the "nouvelle vague" : it's attraction, mixed with repulsion for American movies. Since the 60's, the french directors have always been fascinating by American cinema. But most of them use the American cinema's codes to transpose them in a french environment : from Truffaut' "Tirez Sur Le Pianiste" - which plays with the stereotypes of the Film noir in a french universe - to Gans' "Pacte Des loups" - which transposes the western codes in the pre-revolutionary France.

And it seems that, with "Quatre étoiles", Christian Vincent tries to archive this form of transformation of American's codes with the french touch. Indeed, the director quotes himself American's comedies from the 40's and says they're direct influence to make this film. "Quatre étoiles" tries to transfers the atmosphere of American's classical comedies from Los Angeles to Cannes. But unfortunately, it doesn't work. Why ?

Like in a Cukor' or Lubitch' comedy, the character - a young an inconstant woman - inherit, out of nowhere, 50000 euros and decides to spend it all in a week in Cannes, where, in search of adventures, she falls in love with a small time crook, played by José Garcia. And if a lot of situations are similar to 40's and 50's American films, it never reaches their level of grace and humor. It's true that we have, like in American movies, a young and in-experimented girl who knows exactly what she wants, and who decides to change her life and social position in a day, and that we also have an impossible love story between two characters who hate each other, and are still stuck together, but everything seems so small compared to its models.

When, in a American movie, the character would have inherit millions of dollars, the character here has only a few euros left, which can't provokes great and hilarious contrasted situations. The movie always avoid absurd situations and epic quiproquos, like it is afraid of its comical potential : everything stays calm and little, like the characters, who are just a reduction of American stereotypes : like the talkative-but-not-so-bad-crook. And when you reduce stereotypes, nothing much stays.

What stays after this very little movie is a small impression of boring, just tempered by the presence of the great Francois Cluzet, who plays a very funny half-brained ex-formula 1 driver, who falls in love with the wrong girl.