Starring: Gerard Depardieu, Katherine Heigl, Faith Prince, Lauren Hutton, Dalton James, Stephen Toblowsky
Directed By: Steve Minre
Plot: Nicole (Heigl) is a spoiled brat who goes on vacation with her divorced French father, Andre (Depardieu). She meets a cute boy (James) and creates a story where her dad is her boyfriend to make him jealous. Hilarity ensues.
What Works: Katherine Heigl, even at a young age, was exceptionally good at being bitchy. She’s so incredibly unlikable in this film, but her character is basically written that way. She starts out super entitled, and spends the majority of the movie that way. Depardieu is good. The supporting cast is OK, except Dalton James. I totally understand why we never saw him again.
What Doesn’t Work: The plot is creepy. The whole film is based on the structure that Andre is dating his daughter, which he isn’t. But literally every joke is set up that way. There’s one character in the film, Diana (Prince) who is one of the love interests for Andre, and doesn’t seem to hear any of the rumors surrounding Andre, which she’d be able to squash since she knws that Nicole is his daughter. So everyone at the resort talks to everyone BUT Diana? There’s a scene where Andre uses the word “lover” then later when Nicole uses it, he says he hates that word. What? Was there even a script supervisor on this film? There’s no emotional depth to this film, and because all the jokes are centered on this odd statutory rape scenario, I couldn’t laugh at them either. Who was the target audience for this film? Kids? God, I hope not.
Final Word: A totally forgettable 90’s “comedy” with a bizarre story. I enjoyed seeing Katherine Heigl’s big start, and it really says so much about who she is now, and Depardieu wasn’t bad, but this script really should never have been written. It’s just so icky. Director Steve Miner was also responsible for the awful Big Bully with Tom Arnold, but also the fairly enjoyable Halloween H20 and Lake Placid. Now he’s just a TV director. Maybe that’s his thing. Just stick to TV.
Final Grade: C-
