Ocean Films
A first feature by the son of acclaimed French comedy virtuouso Francis Weber that has Gerard Depardieu's son playing a cop on the trail of an ecologically-driven serial killer might sound like a prescription for inspiration, but the resulting "The Pharmacist" ("Le pharmacien de garde") emerges as a silly thriller.
Unspooled at the recent City of Lights, City of Angels French film festival, Jean Veber's picture makes an attempt to mix potent horror movie elements with black comedy and, ultimately, a heady dose of pathos, but the blended genres end up making for a messy, and thoroughly dispensable, screen concoction.
Clearly relishing the opportunity to play a certified sicko, Vincent Perez lets down his leading man hair as a holistic pharmacist and eco-warrior who comes up with diabolical albeit fitting ways to eliminate smokers, polluters, animal testers and other abusers of Mother Nature.
As fate would have it, he ends up bonding with a fellow activist (Guillaume Depardieu) at a conference, who just happens to be a cop assigned to the elusive serial killer's case.
But that cat and mouse dynamic ends up getting squashed under the 300-pound gorilla that is Veber's distracted script. Thanks to all that awkwardly executed tone and pace shifting, neither horror buffs nor satirists nor environmentalists would be amused.
A first feature by the son of acclaimed French comedy virtuouso Francis Weber that has Gerard Depardieu's son playing a cop on the trail of an ecologically-driven serial killer might sound like a prescription for inspiration, but the resulting "The Pharmacist" ("Le pharmacien de garde") emerges as a silly thriller.
Unspooled at the recent City of Lights, City of Angels French film festival, Jean Veber's picture makes an attempt to mix potent horror movie elements with black comedy and, ultimately, a heady dose of pathos, but the blended genres end up making for a messy, and thoroughly dispensable, screen concoction.
Clearly relishing the opportunity to play a certified sicko, Vincent Perez lets down his leading man hair as a holistic pharmacist and eco-warrior who comes up with diabolical albeit fitting ways to eliminate smokers, polluters, animal testers and other abusers of Mother Nature.
As fate would have it, he ends up bonding with a fellow activist (Guillaume Depardieu) at a conference, who just happens to be a cop assigned to the elusive serial killer's case.
But that cat and mouse dynamic ends up getting squashed under the 300-pound gorilla that is Veber's distracted script. Thanks to all that awkwardly executed tone and pace shifting, neither horror buffs nor satirists nor environmentalists would be amused.
Ocean Films
A first feature by the son of acclaimed French comedy virtuouso Francis Weber that has Gerard Depardieu's son playing a cop on the trail of an ecologically-driven serial killer might sound like a prescription for inspiration, but the resulting "The Pharmacist" ("Le pharmacien de garde") emerges as a silly thriller.
Unspooled at the recent City of Lights, City of Angels French film festival, Jean Veber's picture makes an attempt to mix potent horror movie elements with black comedy and, ultimately, a heady dose of pathos, but the blended genres end up making for a messy, and thoroughly dispensable, screen concoction.
Clearly relishing the opportunity to play a certified sicko, Vincent Perez lets down his leading man hair as a holistic pharmacist and eco-warrior who comes up with diabolical albeit fitting ways to eliminate smokers, polluters, animal testers and other abusers of Mother Nature.
As fate would have it, he ends up bonding with a fellow activist (Guillaume Depardieu) at a conference, who just happens to be a cop assigned to the elusive serial killer's case.
But that cat and mouse dynamic ends up getting squashed under the 300-pound gorilla that is Veber's distracted script. Thanks to all that awkwardly executed tone and pace shifting, neither horror buffs nor satirists nor environmentalists would be amused.
A first feature by the son of acclaimed French comedy virtuouso Francis Weber that has Gerard Depardieu's son playing a cop on the trail of an ecologically-driven serial killer might sound like a prescription for inspiration, but the resulting "The Pharmacist" ("Le pharmacien de garde") emerges as a silly thriller.
Unspooled at the recent City of Lights, City of Angels French film festival, Jean Veber's picture makes an attempt to mix potent horror movie elements with black comedy and, ultimately, a heady dose of pathos, but the blended genres end up making for a messy, and thoroughly dispensable, screen concoction.
Clearly relishing the opportunity to play a certified sicko, Vincent Perez lets down his leading man hair as a holistic pharmacist and eco-warrior who comes up with diabolical albeit fitting ways to eliminate smokers, polluters, animal testers and other abusers of Mother Nature.
As fate would have it, he ends up bonding with a fellow activist (Guillaume Depardieu) at a conference, who just happens to be a cop assigned to the elusive serial killer's case.
But that cat and mouse dynamic ends up getting squashed under the 300-pound gorilla that is Veber's distracted script. Thanks to all that awkwardly executed tone and pace shifting, neither horror buffs nor satirists nor environmentalists would be amused.
- 4/13/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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