Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases

Heartbreaker (2010)

Director: Pascal Chaumeil

Time Out rating

Average user rating

11 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

At first glance, you could mistake this for a mainstream Hollywood rom-com: handsome con artist accepts money from rich parents who want him to stand in the way of their beloved daughter and her unsuitable beau. He charms her, she realises she can do better, he invents a sob story about a broken heart and swiftly departs with a wallet full of cash. This, however, is a French film, so there’s a blissful lack of Dane Cook types pedalling crude sex gags. Instead, we have the comically talented French thesp Romain Duris as the charming Alex, and Vanessa Paradis as Juliette, his latest mark – a woman who could actually break his heart. Juliette is engaged to a posh Brit, Jonathan (Andrew Lincoln, not great), but her dad objects, and assigns Alex to intervene and pose as her bodyguard.

It’s an instantly amusing set-up: Duris is terrific as the suave trickster assisted by his sister and her husband, a comical duo who set up surveillance devices to research Alex’s targets. The opening scene is hilarious: Alex poses as a heartbroken doctor delivering medicine to needy villagers, all of whom are in on the act. For Juliette, he must memorise the ‘Dirty Dancing’ routine and Wham! lyrics. More farcical laughs come courtesy of Juliette’s drunken nympho friend, who inconveniently sets her sights on Alex. Problem is, Alex and Juliette never look like a credible love match. Paradis is an enigmatic presence, her character’s true feelings never apparent. When ‘Heartbreaker’ goes for real romance, it falters. When it goes for laughs, it hits the mark. A mixed bag, then, but still an accessible comedy that outstrips its similarly conceived US counterparts.

Author: Anna Smith

Time Out London Issue 2080: July 1 – 7, 2010

Email Tweet Share

User reviews of this film

Larry said...

Posted on Dec 31 2011 02:07 a really nice film !first i decided to see it cause i've always loved Vanessa's charm and Vanessa's career but i must confess all the film and the cast too it has been a big surprise !a comedy romantic and funny where every thing "sounds good" big chemistry between all the cast.So my suggest is see it !

Report as inappropriate
Marianne said...

Posted on Apr 14 2011 10:13 Enjoyable fluff. Good to see that Romain Duris didn't mind looking - as Vanessa Paradis told him - "a dickhead": his grimaces when he made himself 'cry' were funny. This would be a perfect film for a rainy Friday night when you're tired at the end of a hard week - not too demanding, but with some intelligence in the script and the characterisation. In the end, I'll go to four stars just because it's such a pleasure to look at.

Report as inappropriate
LotsC said...

Posted on Aug 12 2010 16:22 One of the best and funniest films I've seen this year. I enjoyed every minute of it - romantic, funny and engaging...see it!

Report as inappropriate
Brian said...

Posted on Jul 08 2010 11:34 The brother-in-law character is absolutely hilarious!!

Report as inappropriate
Phil Ince said...

Posted on Jul 07 2010 19:53 Slick-looking, cartoonish farce. Roman Duris looks scrawny rather than horny, I thought. It does have a couple of funny moments but they're generally crushed by the laboured clowning of the brother-in-law character. Wish someone would cast Duris in a Chaplin biopic before it's too late; his teeth are perfect. It doesn't seem to me to be a good script, it's just unusual to see this particular type of rot in French.

Report as inappropriate
Evie said...

Posted on Jul 04 2010 17:45 This well-dressed and sun drenched film is likely to leave you in a much better mood. the plot exploits the unexpected to great comic effect. Romain throws himself into the silliness of the role whilst never looking any less than an A-list leading man. 7 3/4 out of 10

Report as inappropriate
deborah said...

Posted on Jul 02 2010 19:34 Amazing film!!! Absolutely a must see!!!

Report as inappropriate
Chris Drey said...

Posted on Jun 30 2010 17:44 I watched this film last week - very funny indeed! Duris and Mrs Depp are very good lead characters and have a great onscreen chemistry. 4 stars.

Report as inappropriate
Skeptic said...

Posted on Jun 30 2010 12:04 Hmmm...the five star review from Sharon reads suspiciously like a plant from the shameless Revolver (the film's distributor) who is notorious for it's blatant manipulation of Amazon reviews on every DVD release it does. Run 'revolver' through amazon and take a look at the customer reviews. Every five star review is from a person who has reviewed nothing but Revolver releases and given them all - surprise, surprise! - five stars. So ridiculously transparent.
Heartbreaker is sweet and fun but TimeOut's 3 stars is spot on.

Report as inappropriate
Sharon said...

Posted on Jun 30 2010 08:47 Excellent film. Very rare today to find a rom-com that is actually both romantic and funny, with 2 attractive and engaging leads, particuarly the wonderful Romain Duris, excellent supporting characters and great wit about it. Highly recommended. See it now before the Hollywood remake ruins it's charm!

Report as inappropriate
Scott said...

Posted on Jun 29 2010 12:11 Fantastic film - very, very funny rom-com - great cast, and very cool in a way that only European cinema can be - so much better than the schmultz the US keep churning out.

Report as inappropriate