Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Justina The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Chrysanthepop The story of 'La Doublure' is far from original but even otherwise, the story is contrived due to Veber's sloppy writing. The characters are half baked, especially Emilie who at one moment shows no sign of having any romantic feelings for François but the next moment she's completely jealous when learning about his involvement with a supermodel. The only things working for this film are the comedic situations and this is largely due to the actors. Gad Elmaleh and the sensual Alice Taglioni have a good chemistry and I enjoyed their scenes together. Daniel Auteuil is funny too as the adulterous businessman. Kristin Scott Thomas plays her part with ease. Virginie Ledoyen suffers from poor characterization. The whimsical soundtrack works well and the French streets are an extra treat to watch. 'La Doublure' required more development and more than 85 minutes running time as it appears very rushed through but for a few laughs it's quite an okay fair.

lepoisson-1 As others have said on the messages boards (and I won't refer to them to avoid spoilers), there were a lot of plot problems in this movie, but it didn't matter. The basic premise is absurd: an important CEO, photographed with a young supermodel, tries to convince his wife that the supermodel is really dating the commoner (who works as a valet) who just happened to be walking past when the picture was taken. The CEO pays the valet to pose as the supermodel's boyfriend, the wife doesn't buy it, and things progress from there. The valet is a nice guy who is down and out, but doing the best he can with what he was given; the CEO is a bad guy: in an American movie, you could guess the outcome, but this is a French movie, so you're on your own!On a side note, Francis Veber also wrote and directed Le dîner de cons, which we found very disappointing after enjoying La Doublure.

OldAle1 Basically the storyline is as hackneyed as could be: wealthy exec (Daniel Auteuil) gets caught in the company of a supermodel (Alice Taglioni) who is not his wife (Kristin Scott Thomas). To avoid scandal and the possibility of divorce and losing half his fortune, Auteuil and his lawyer concoct a scheme whereby an innocent bystander (Gad Elmaleh) who happened to be very close when the incriminating pictures were snapped will be paid to pretend that Taglioni is his girlfriend and living with him. Alas this complicates life for Elmaleh, a working-class valet, in his pursuit of his own true love, a struggling book store owner played by Virginie Ledoyen. And Taglioni gets more and more angry at Auteuil for dicking her around, promising to divorce his wife but clearly not wanting to.This plot could come out of a screwball comedy from the 30s, Three's Company, any number of French or Italian sex farces of the 60s-70s, etc. That alone isn't necessarily a problem, but when you've got a really ordinary, simple storyline you've really got to work to make it interesting -- and alas writer/director Francis Veber doesn't do anything with the material that isn't highly predictable and dull. Auteuil spends much of his time mugging or getting over-the-top angry and becomes more and more of a scumbag as the film goes on - want to guess whether he and Taglioni end up together at the end? Scott Thomas is one-note severe, calculating, nasty - it's clear from the first that she and Auteuil deserve each other. Our lowly valet manages to prove his love for his bookstore owner ideal, the supermodel turns out to be the nicest and most mature person of the whole bunch, those that deserve to be happy are, etc.There were some nice touches here and there - the valet's father is chronically sick, but the doctor who attends him is even sicker and the father ends up attending to his physician more than the reverse; I kind of liked the jag-off cell phone salesman who is also pursuing Ledoyen, at least at first, he's so over-the-top smarmy. But mostly this was by-the-numbers rom-com, and with a PG-13 rating it doesn't even get to have any sex to speak of - very mild and lacking in juice all around. And what was with the extremely bright, overlit cinematography throughout? It's Paris, not Cannes.At least it was short.

pefrss I absolutely adored "Le Closet" and when I saw another movie advertised by Veber, I drove all across town to watch la Doublure . I was a little bit disappointed. I am not quite sure if it was because the story did not ring true, Auteuil overacted or the film had more an American feel to it than a French one. As I speak French it could not have been the translation. Maybe I expected a French film to be more about l'amour than l'argent. But I suppose when we deal with billionaires and supermodels it is mainly about money. Maybe some of the situations were too far fetched. I still enjoyed the movie and laughed often, but I just did not think it so hilarious than Veber's other comedies.