Film Review
After the worldwide success of
Intouchables
(2011), Omar Sy didn't have to wait too long for invitations to come flooding
in from American film producers. So far Sy's Hollywood film career
isn't much to write home about - just a few minor roles in star-studded action
movies like
Jurassic World (2015) and
Inferno (2016).
Meanwhile, back in France, his screen career is flourishing and the
healthy performance of
Demain tout commence at the French box office
in 2016 is testament to the actor's crowd-pulling potential. If the
plot appears familiar that is probably because the film is an exact remake
of Eugenio Derbez's 2013 Mexican hit
Instructions Not Included (2013).
Sy's presence in the lead role, as the perpetual bachelor who implausibly
becomes addicted to fatherhood, is enough to make this derivative feel-good
comedy a box office winner - in France at least.
Hugo Gélin directs the film with the same reckless gusto that he brought
to his debut offering,
Comme des frères (2012), and if there's
one thing it doesn't lack it's an irresistible sense of fun - at least in
its less lachrymose interludes.
Demain tout commence makes a
pretty determined stab at combining tearjerker and bubbly comedy but, saddled
with a pretty inept script and some unfortunate casting choices it struggles
to pass muster as even the most mundane kind of family entertainment.
After a breezy opening, which shows Sy at his comedic best, the film starts
to go off the rails when the location switches from the sunny Riviera to
a London that is much nearer to the crude French stereotype than the real
thing. With the possible exception of the Belgians, there is no nationality
the French love to caricature more than the English, and this is painfully
evident in the film's second half.
Even allowing for the lapse of eight years, it is hard to take seriously
the dramatic transformation we see in the main characters, and not even Sy
can sell his conversion from wayward pleasure-seeker to devoted father.
Clémence Poésy has the most challenging role as the most irresponsible
mother on earth, and if she looks like a villainness blithely lifted from
a Walt Disney cartoon (Cruella de Vil spings to mind) that's probably because
that is how her character is written.
Demain tout commence is
the kind of low-grade, emotion-manipulating pap that tends to perform spectacularly
well at the box office in France, so it's popularity is hardly a surprise.
But lacking in genuine human feeling and characters that have more depth
than a postage stamp the film is unlikely to appeal to true connoisseurs
of French comedy.
© James Travers 2017
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Samuel is happy with his life as a carefree bachelor on the French Riviera.
With no family commitments to tie him down he is as free as the wind, and
has no intention of changing the way he lives. All this is put in jeopardy
when one of Samuel's brief liaisons shows up unexpectedly and dumps an eight
month old baby, Gloria, in his lap. Deciding that fatherhood is definitely
not for him, Samuel hurries off to London in a desperate bid to find the
baby's mother and return it to her. Eight years later, Samuel and Gloria
are happily settled in the British capital and have become inseparable.
He has a good income, working as a stuntman for a popular television programme,
and wouldn't part with his daughter for anything in the world. But
then the child's mother puts in another appearance, only this time she is
determined to regain custody of her daughter...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.