French comedy delivers laughs
The Valet defied my expectations at every turn. From the previews, the story seemed kind of contrived to me: very Hollywood high-concept. A cheating businessman is caught with his mistress and, fearing a very expensive divorce, he concocts an alibi based around a parking valet who also happened to appear in the same incriminating photo. As he explains to his wife, it is the valet, not he, who is the real boyfriend of the woman in the photo.
Gad Elmaleh and Alice Taglioni pretend to be in love in order to protect a billionaire from an expensive divorce in The Valet.
Hollywood could take this concept and belabor it to death by the end of the first reel, but director Francis Veber employs a light touch and keeps the story moving without pushing it into the tiring frantic energy that usually kills this genre for me. Plus, there are some genuinely funny lines and character bits throughout the film.
Gad Elmaleh plays François Pignon, the Valet referred to in the title. He is a homely ordinary guy in a dead end job, sure, but he is basically happy, a good-natured guy and in love with his childhood girlfriend.
Daniel Auteuil plays Pierre Levasseur, a billionaire CEO who should has a beautiful wife, a high-powered career, a beautiful supermodel mistress, and an unquenchable need to have it all exactly to his own liking.
When a paparazzi grabs a shot of Pierre with his mistress, Elena (Alice Taglioni), Pierre's long-suffering wife (Kristin Scott Thomas) threatens divorce. To cover his affair, Pierre convinces Elena and François to live together for a time. François agrees seeing it as a chance to get the money he needs to marry his girlfriend. Elena agrees with the acceptance of a 20 million dollar "deposit" to insure that Pierre will finally divorce his wife and marry her.
Comedy emerges as François and Elena try to keep up their deception while Pierre and his wife play a cat and mouse game, each trying to outthink the other.
Elmaleh, who's demeanor at certain times reminded me of Buster Keaton, plays François as a nice guy who never fools himself into thinking he is in Elena's league; nor would he want to be. He's perfectly happy with his perfectly pretty girlfriend, Émilie (Virginie Ledoyen), even if she has turned down his proposal of marriage.
Taglioni, stunningly beautiful as Elena, seems genuinely nice and down to earth in her role; she deserves better than the narcissistic Pierre.
Auteuil, is comically despicable as Pierre, whose character flaws constantly make him his own worst enemy; and Kristin Scott Thomas is delightful as his perfect foil, constantly half a step ahead of him.
All in all, it's an enjoyable film offering plenty of laughs; it's a charming and breezy entertainment with a kind of old school feel about it; a slightly updated screwball comedy that Howard Hawks might have directed in Hollywood's golden age.