Release Date: March 28
Director: Pierre Salvadori
Writers: Benoît Graffin, Salvadori
Cinematographer: Gilles Henry
Starring: Gad Elmaleh, Audrey Tautou, Marie-Christine Adam
Studio/Run Time: Samuel Goldwyn Films, 103 mins.
French gold diggers hit rock bottom in flaccid romance
Priceless strives to capture the humor of classic date movies like Pretty Woman and French Kiss, but can’t raise the camera past its superficial sex appeal and product placement. While the eye candy of Audrey Tautou (Amelie) and Gad Elmaleh is alluring, the characters—two modern-day prostitutes who manipulate themselves into the bank accounts and undergarments of the idle rich—have the depth of a bidet. The script completely neuters Tautou’s bright-eyed charm, making her a callous gold digger completely undeserving of Elmaleh’s desperate adoration. This ambiguous morality completely repels the appeal of their chemistry. The contemptibly naive men (and woman) who subject themselves to this obtuse manipulation are just as unlikable as the actual con artists, leaving no sympathetic characters. The film’s revolutionary message, that it’s more fun to have sex with someone you love than for money, should already be obvious.