Dvd
The Dinner Guest (L' Invité)
Fifty years old, after
Starring Daniel Auteuil, Valerie Lemercier, Thierry Lhermitte
Directed by Laurent Bouhnik ('24 Hours in the Life of a Woman')
Written by David Pharao
Comedy | 1hr 30mins | Rated (PG) | contains mild coarse language | Origin: France | Language: French with English subtitles | NZ Distributor: Rialto Distribution | External Trailer »
- Flicks Review
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2
- The People's Reviews
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- Press Reviews
- Official Site
Flicks review
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In this polished but pedestrian French farce, the well worn comic scenario of inviting your boss over for dinner returns. Those hoping for the sharp, pointed wit of Dinner Game or The Closet, the French comedies it is most deeply indebted too, would do well to lower expectations.
Serially unemployed Gerard (Daniel Auteuil) is determined to put an exclamation mark on a promising job application by hosting his probable new employer for a meal. It takes the suave PR guru next door to point out the flaws in his plan, ranging from the non-existant culinary skills of his sweet sap of a wife to the unappealing state of his apartment. He steps in to help, but that only rapidly complicates the existing problems.
The cast comprises some of the most seasoned comedy veterans in French cinema and they toil valiantly in their roles, wringing every drop of charm and laughter out of the bland, stale characters. However, their collective talents are short changed by the script, which seems averse to humorous dialogue or any injection of fresh ideas into its well worn scenario. The closing credits blooper reel gets about as many laughs as the film proper, maybe a first for a French farce, but in this case it's not better to create history than follow it.
One for dyed in the wool Francophiles only.
By Andreas Heinemann, Flicks.co.nz
The Peoples voice
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4
A great laugh for a wet afternoon! And tant pis for the cine-snobs: four of us went and laughed our socks off at the farcical rubbish, the wonderful richness of French language and mores, and the sheer fun of a simple comedy which, predictable as it might be, allowed Auteuil and Lhermitte to exploit their talent. And the wife...!
By Frances
Press Reviews
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Hollywood Reporter
So similar are the basic ingredients of Laurent Bouhnik's "The Guest" to those of Francis Veber's 1998 smash hit "The Dinner Game" that this latest exercise in misanthropic farce might as well have been called "The Dinner Game: Second Helping." There is the same setup (a dinner to which an outsider has been invited), the same source (a successful stage play) and the same pleasure in humiliation. Even one of the stars is the same. But will the result be the same? In Veber's case, the result was 9 million tickets sold in France alone and $4 million in U.S. boxoffice. Because gastronomic comparisons are inevitable, the verdict must be that Bouhnik's mayonnaise has not quite taken. Or that the souffle has only partly risen to the occasion. Audiences who do not require anything too substantial nor mind a slightly acid taste might find the fare reasonably palatable.
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Urban Cinefile [Australia]
A frivolous comedy of errors made entertaining by its esteemed cast.
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