“Refreshing Comedy”

“Hotshots” looks at a movie!

 

The Intouchables is a French comedy with an unlikely subject: a wealthy man who is paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair hires a young black man from the projects in Paris to be his live-in nurse and take care of him.

One thing that is remarkable about this film is that when I saw the previews for it and all throughout watching it, I believed that Dustin Hoffman plays the quadriplegic, and I was impressed with how well he could speak French. Either that or else his lines were dubbed, and I didn’t quite believe that.

It wasn’t until I obtained the credits for the film that I learned that the actor isn’t Hoffman at all, nor is the actress playing one of the staff the American actress Amy Adams, which I believed.

When the movie opens, we see the rich man, Philippe, and the caretaker, Driss, speeding in Philippe’s Maserati, which Driss is driving. The police start chasing them, and Driss says, “Here they come–100 Euros says I can beat them.”

The scene has a funny ending, which is characteristic of the whole movie.

Then we see a flashback to when Driss interviewed for the job, which he didn’t even want at all, but just wanted a signature to prove that he had interviewed for a job so he could continue to receive his unemployment benefits.

However, something about Driss’s manner intrigues Philippe, and he says that Philippe is ready to try Driss out for a month, but he bets that Driss won’t last two weeks before he quits.

You see, most nurses leave the job after one week, because it is so demanding and requires such hard work.

Driss is impressed by the accommodations that he would live in, but the main reason for accepting the job might be Magalie, one of Philippe’s staff that Driss finds very attractive.

And so the rest of the movie consists of how these two unlikely men affect each other, Driss and his exuberance for life breaking through the walls of depression surrounding Philippe and Philippe’s money and status in life showing Driss that Driss’s previous life was going to lead him nowhere.

So, does Driss stay in the job longer than two weeks?

Does he get anywhere with Magalie?

The Intouchables is a very delightful and refreshing comedy.

I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshot.”