In Brittany, France, Herve (Vincent Lacoste) and his best friend Camel (Anthony Sonigo) are two horny adolescent teens who are flunking their high school classes. Rather than studying they are too busy thinking about women and wanting to get laid. Yet they are both so inept and socially awkward that they have little luck with any of the girls they pursue. They are also picked on regularly by the more popular bullies. Herve, whose father is away supposedly in the army, struggles with his meddling mother, who is not shy to ask him personal questions. Despite his poor social skills, Herve is eventually greeted by a girl named Aurore (Alice Trémolière), who sees something in him and they start a relationship.
Riad Sattouf's first film as a writer and director is like the French version of American Pie. As with that movie, this is yet another comedy and coming of age film that explores an adolescent's fixation with sex. Herve and Camel regularly spy on their neighbours having sex, imagine themselves with the most beautiful girls in their classes and pleasure themselves with magazines. Some will suggest that this film is truthful to the years of an adolescent. To an extent it might be, but this is a film that begs the question as to when truth becomes a cliché, as countless other films have explored the same behaviour in more subtle, meaningful and original ways. This is a crude and juvenile film that takes these issues for laughs and only in the most superficial manner. Seeing The French Kissers recalls the indie comedy-drama Thumbsucker (2005), a superior film that also focused on adolescent behaviour. It rarely overstated the teenage interest in sex and its dopey adolescent protagonist was characterised with moments of frustration, highs and low, strengths and weaknesses. It felt like a finely realised visualisation of some of the most difficult times in growing up.
The two characters in this film though are so devoid of any redeeming qualities and substantial development that by the end some will be begging Sattouf to give them some dignity. They are hopeless in every aspect of their lives. They are idiotic, lazy, selfish, socially awkward and interested in little beyond sex and music. Both of the boys, though through no fault of their performances, are less credible than they should be because their roles have been written more like caricatures, coming straight from the handbook of bad adolescent behaviour. They channel every cliché imaginable for the nerdy teens, right down to playing games of Dungeons and Dragons. The credibility of the main relationship between Herve and Aurore is also strained because one has to question what exactly she sees in him. For his apparent obsession with sex, he initially does not seem the least bit interested in talking to her. Most disappointingly, the repetition of masturbation jokes grows very tiresome after a while and minimizes the number of laughs in the film. Some might enjoy this brand of gross out humour but others will surely find it particularly unfunny and unintelligent.
Domestically, The French Kissers has been a huge hit. Yet for Western audiences the issues explored in this film are likely to be overly familiar given that so many funnier and more intelligent films have dealt with the same concepts. If the characters had more qualities to evoke our sympathy for them, this could have been a more engaging and personal story, but at best it's rather hollow and two dimensional. For the debut of Sattouf it is not a terrible film, just one that shows his immaturity, most specifically, as a screenwriter.
Riad Sattouf's first film as a writer and director is like the French version of American Pie. As with that movie, this is yet another comedy and coming of age film that explores an adolescent's fixation with sex. Herve and Camel regularly spy on their neighbours having sex, imagine themselves with the most beautiful girls in their classes and pleasure themselves with magazines. Some will suggest that this film is truthful to the years of an adolescent. To an extent it might be, but this is a film that begs the question as to when truth becomes a cliché, as countless other films have explored the same behaviour in more subtle, meaningful and original ways. This is a crude and juvenile film that takes these issues for laughs and only in the most superficial manner. Seeing The French Kissers recalls the indie comedy-drama Thumbsucker (2005), a superior film that also focused on adolescent behaviour. It rarely overstated the teenage interest in sex and its dopey adolescent protagonist was characterised with moments of frustration, highs and low, strengths and weaknesses. It felt like a finely realised visualisation of some of the most difficult times in growing up.
The two characters in this film though are so devoid of any redeeming qualities and substantial development that by the end some will be begging Sattouf to give them some dignity. They are hopeless in every aspect of their lives. They are idiotic, lazy, selfish, socially awkward and interested in little beyond sex and music. Both of the boys, though through no fault of their performances, are less credible than they should be because their roles have been written more like caricatures, coming straight from the handbook of bad adolescent behaviour. They channel every cliché imaginable for the nerdy teens, right down to playing games of Dungeons and Dragons. The credibility of the main relationship between Herve and Aurore is also strained because one has to question what exactly she sees in him. For his apparent obsession with sex, he initially does not seem the least bit interested in talking to her. Most disappointingly, the repetition of masturbation jokes grows very tiresome after a while and minimizes the number of laughs in the film. Some might enjoy this brand of gross out humour but others will surely find it particularly unfunny and unintelligent.
Domestically, The French Kissers has been a huge hit. Yet for Western audiences the issues explored in this film are likely to be overly familiar given that so many funnier and more intelligent films have dealt with the same concepts. If the characters had more qualities to evoke our sympathy for them, this could have been a more engaging and personal story, but at best it's rather hollow and two dimensional. For the debut of Sattouf it is not a terrible film, just one that shows his immaturity, most specifically, as a screenwriter.