French Girl is a sharp, witty Canadian rom-com that begs for a sequel
CBC
Where many modern romantic comedies falter is a laser-focus on the romance and a weak commitment to the comedy — French Girl, a Canadian indie out this weekend, does not have that problem.
Starring Zach Braff, Vanessa Hudgens and Québécois actress Évelyne Brochu, the rom-com is laugh-out-loud funny and never short on charm.
It was shot on-location in Quebec City and follows Gordon Kinski (played by a disarmingly charming Braff) and Sophie Tremblay (the effortlessly chic Brochu) on a trip from Brooklyn to the Canadian city to meet Sophie's family.
It's a bit of Ben Stiller in the box-office smash Meet the Parents (2000) meets Hugh Grant of Notting Hill (1999), where a goofy, handsome guy can't seem to get his bearings in the world of his beautiful love interest.
The premise is simple: Gordon wants to propose to Sophie, but she gets a job offer from her ex-girlfriend Ruby (played by the stunning Vanessa Hudgens) back in Quebec City before he can seal the deal.
That means meeting Sophie's very Québécois family on their farm, while an increasingly unhinged Ruby tries to sabotage their relationship and win Sophie back.
This is the first feature for director pair James A. Woods and Nicolas Wright, who also wrote the script.
It's a personal project: Both their fathers fell in love with their French Canadian mothers and moved to Quebec to start families.
Despite being first-time feature directors, the film is incredibly sharp, both in its comedy and its editing.
It hits its beats hard, and there are plenty of very funny moments.
The movie is part culture clash, part ensemble comedy, and owes a lot to Braff's experienced hand in rom-coms. As Gordon, he conjures an early Billy Crystal in his comedic timing and a bit of the bashfulness of a mid-career Grant — high praise in the rom-com world.
Brochu, too, is well cast as the beautiful, calm and nearly perfect French Canadian girlfriend.
The film avoids some of the rom-com trappings of making her needlessly quirky or full of adorable faults, instead portraying her as a talented and ambitious chef who is a reasonably good communicator with her partner and loves her family.
Together, the pair have excellent chemistry — the linchpin of this genre. One only needs to look to Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson's monstrosity Marry Me (2002) to see two adept rom-com stars who cannot sell their relationship because they don't have that certain electricity together.
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