Paris-Manhattan

When people wring their hands and ask why we Brits can’t make movies more like the French, ‘Paris-Manhattan’ is exactly the sort of film they’re talking about – a fun, fluffy, but chic romantic comedy that looks so effortless. Thirtysomething and single, Alice (Alice Taglioni) is a movie-loving pharmacist with a Woody Allen obsession. In 1972’s ‘Play it Again, Sam’ an apparition of Humphrey Bogart appeared as Woody’s agony aunt. In a homage to that film – or blatant rip-off if you have strong feelings on the matter – when Alice asks a poster of Allen for advice, his disembodied voice answers.

Her family, meanwhile, is fussing around trying to marry her off. There’s locksmith Victor (Patrick Bruel), who’s never seen a Woody Allen movie: is that a no-no, or a challenge? Her brother-in-law fixes her up with a hot, filthy rich financier (Yannick Soulier): is he too perfect? The story unravels in the second half  and the dialogue is no match for Allen – or Julie Delpy for that matter, who with her spiky ‘2 Days in Paris’ movies is the dauphin to his brand of wit. But some sweet touches – Alice dispenses DVDs to her favourite customers along with their medicines (Ernst Lubitsch to one old lady with heartburn) – make this charming and likeable enough. And a cameo at the end is an unexpected treat.