Monday, August 20, 2012

The Intouchables

Omar Sy and François Cluzet in The Intouchables
*** out of ****

If you're one of those American movie-goers who likes feel-good unchallenging movies but won't give foreign films a chance, it's time to paralyze yourself and take care from the jovial antics of Omar Sy in The Intouchables. This is as crowd-pleasing a film as anyone could ask for, even for American cinematic standards. I'll never see The Bucket List because I feel like I just saw the french version. Being physically challenged or doomed in some way can still be fun when you're rich. This movie is manipulative and easy in it's convenient resolutions but I won't deny I had a good time watching it.

It follows a billionaire paraplegic played by François Cluzet, as he recruits a young man from the ghetto to be his caregiver because he wants to be cared for without pity and thinks the unhinged boisterous nature of the man is what he needs.   

It's a fun-loving movie of human kindness that I am sure is a great embellishment from it's true story source. It has cool music selections from Shubert to Earth Wind and Fire to Terry Callier. Like most commercial French films, the imagery is rich and viabrant with the well-lit interiors of the mansion and nighttime Parisian streets. The winning aspect of this film, is that it is successful through the effective acting of it's performers who make the trite subject matter entertaining.

I said that this is a feel good movie somewhere in this review, so for those who have an aversion to that term, you've been warned. This movie is exactly what you think it is. Speaking for myself, I can enjoy these movies once in a while even when my better senses kick in later and I realize I learned almost nothing from the experience of watching a movie that claimed to be life-affirming.

Check out Ebert's Review.

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