| The Valet (La Doublure) | 
 enlarge | Director: Francis Veber
Actors: Alice Taglioni, Daniel Auteuil, Gad Elmaleh, Kristin Scott Thomas, Virginie Ledoyen
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.94
Buy Used: $3.82
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Avg. Customer Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 10383
Format: Ac-3, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: French (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 85
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 18389
UPC: 043396183896
EAN: 0043396183896
ASIN: B000SSQ7JC
Theatrical Release Date: 2006
Release Date: September 18, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
A billionaire bribes a lovelorn oarking attendant to pose as the boyfriend of his supermodel mistress. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 03/25/2008 Run time: 85 minutes Rating: Pg13
Amazon.com
A light, zippy farce from Francis Veber (writer/director of The Closet and The Dinner Game), The Valet is another masterful comic escalation of lies and pretenses. When a billionaire (Daniel Auteuil, Cache, The Eighth Day) gets photographed next to his supermodel mistress (Alice Taglioni), he tries to persuade his wife (Kristin Scott Thomas, The English Patient) that the supermodel must be with the other man in the picture--a parking valet (Gad Elmaleh) who just happens to be walking by. Naturally, the billionaire has to follow through by setting the valet and the supermodel up as a couple, lest his wife's detective uncover the truth. The valet agrees, but not because he wants to cozy up to the beautiful girl; he hopes that the money he'll be paid will win the heart of the bookstore owner he's in love with (Virginie Ledoyen, The Beach, 8 Femmes). The sneaky machinations of the characters multiply and cascade with delicious results, particularly the hapless envy of the valet's best friend (Dany Boon, My Best Friend). The Valet isn't quite as brilliantly orchestrated as The Closet (some of the plot threads feel underbaked), but it's still sly and wonderfully engaging. Don't judge Veber by the hamfisted Hollywood remakes of his films Les Comperes and Le Jouet; Veber's films have a deft sweetness that American filmmakers just can't recreate. --Bret Fetzer
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| Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...
 Cute and funny November 10, 2008
Great comedy that will keep you engaged from start to finish. A rich man (Daniel Auteuil) brokering a large corporate merger has a mistress (supermodel) he loves. He does not want to divorce his wife since she owns majority of the company shares and therefore money (i.e. fruits of his labor). Can a man of money and influence have it all? To cover his tracks, he hires a valet to pose as his girlfriend's lover. While his wife (Kristen Scott Thomas) finds his schemes amazing and actively engages in beating him in his own game, valet is trying hard to win over the love of his life a book shop owner he knew his entire life and he desparately want to marry. Wonderful cast, great script, very european topic (curtains joke is typical european joke). I did not know that Kristen Scott Thomas speaks fluent French and for that she deserves all the credit she can get for this role. She plays fantastic ice queen/business woman with a cheating husband.
A great romantic comedy October 23, 2008
Gad Elmaleh is puts on an excellent performance in the title role of this film. Not as edgy as "My Best Friend," another Daniel Autueil film, just very enjoyable.
 Predictable, funny, warm hearted film September 28, 2008
French language film with subtitles. Rich billionaire corporate CEO has a 2 year relationship with a head-turning supermodel mistress (Alice Taglioni) - the supermodel threatens to leave after hearing his last promise of divorce from his wife (who owns controlling interest over his companies). They have it out on the street in front of paparazzi and picture is broadcast all over the tabloids. A valet happens to be standing next to them and Billionaire argues to his wife that girl is with valet and not him. Billionaire then tries to buy off his supermodel friend and the valet to pretend they are in a relationship. The valet lives with his best friend in cramped quarters with very little money or promise - he is in love with his high school sweetheart who doesn't see him in a romantic way. Next thing you know, he is in a relationship with one of France's most recognizable beauties.
* Daniel Auteuil and Kristin Scott Thomas (his wife) are terrific. The rest of the cast is weaker. And Taglioni lives up to her supermodel billing.
* Light and warm-hearted,
* Funny
* Predictable
* Colorful characters
* Not a brain teaser this one - fun, little mindless film
* Abrupt (and silly) ending
Delightful Comedy August 3, 2008
This was a surprise. Somehow I did not expect it to be so funny and well done. From descriptions I had read, it sounded so trite, I was expecting some silly farce. I bought it on sale and was totally delighted to find it is a wonderfully light hearted, funny romp.
A billionaire has a drop-dead gorgeous mistress and a wily wife, played by English actress Krisitn Scott Thomas, with a faultless French accent. He is torn between the two, promising fidelity to his wife and divorce to his mistress. A paparazzi snaps his picture standing next to his mistress, just as a strange man, a valet at a parking lot, walks by. He tries to convince his wife that the girl is with the valet and not him.
This movie is highly underated and is worth watching. It has a great cast and a marvellous script.
fun but occasionally strained romp through Paris June 29, 2008
The featherweight French comedy, "The Valet," harkens back to those more halcyon days when frenetic pacing and farcical misunderstandings often made for comic gold. And while "The Valet" may not be exactly golden (it`s barely gold-plated, if you want to know the absolute truth), it's still a moderately diverting trifle - provided you don't ask more of it than it can reasonably deliver, that is.
The protagonist is Francois Pignon (Gad Elmaleh), a struggling, average-looking chap, who works as a parking valet at a high-end restaurant located right across the street from the Eiffel Tower. Francois' simple life is turned upside down when, through a fluke of fate, he is hired to play the lover of a French supermodel (Alice Taglioni) whose long-running affair with a married billionaire CEO (Daniel Auteuil) has recently come to light in the Paris tabloids. This leads to a great deal of complications for all involved, including Francois' pretty young love interest (Virginie Ledoyen) who, unfortunately, has not been let in on the ruse.
For all its undeniable Gallic charms, "The Valet," written and directed by Francis Veber, is probably funnier in concept than it is in execution. It delivers its two best jokes right upfront - a wonderfully inventive visual gag that introduces the main character, and a clever routine about a doctor who is more sick than his patients - but that's all within the first ten minutes, and the movie never reaches those comic heights again. Still, if you're partial to a sitcom-level scenario in which people run around from one contrived set-up and telegraphed sight-gag to the next - all against colorful Parisienne backdrops - then this might well be the movie for you. If not, you might want to skip it altogether and seek out something more to your liking.
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