it's hearts in the right place and never bad, it's just too... safe for me

Rating: 6/10 (5 November 2015)

I don't doubt the reasons that people have given for liking very much/loving this film to the point where it became one of France's biggest hits in years and then, not surprising in the least, became a Weinstein Company release in the USA. The Intouchables is the epitome of a "feel-good" buddy movie, the kind of movie starring a big black dude that you can show your 90 year old grandmother and she'll take a liking to it as well (unless they have an aversion to, say, pot or Faberge eggs). It's the case of a movie with the kindest, inherently liberal message there is: a man from the projects lucks into a job (via Earth, Wind & Fire and Kool and the Gang as his 'references' at a brief interview), and it's taking care of a very rich man who is a quadriplegic. Over the course of this story they'll grow and become best friends and while the rich white guy can learn to relax a little more, smoke some weed (no, really) and listen to that Kool & the Gang, the dude from the projects gets some Vivaldi, makes an abstract painting that sells for 11 grand, and goes paragliding.
Other stuff happens as well, but suffice it to say there's no surprises in this movie. That may not be an issue for most out there. For me, as the movie went along, it was just a little too... safe. That may be a word that doesn't really give much critical credence to what's here, and to be fair the actors really help to ground it in a number of scenes. Francois Cluzet and Omar Sy keep things at a good, even keel as far as making the material work for their equal levels of charm and (sometimes) dismay. Sy especially shows that he can take what could have been a super-typical "magical negro" stereotype and not let us forget he's from a slightly less educated background (and a little rougher - see his comments about the rich man's adopted daughter when she mouths off). So on the acting front it's perfectly fine and in the first half I was interested in where this would be going.
When I say 'safe' I mean to say that nothing really dramatic is left out there for any of the characters. Any possible conflicts get swept up and resolved even before the third act begins (it almost seem,s like Driss gets some time off working just so he can resolve his small conflicts, or those with his sorta-brother, and then come back). Even with the overriding emotional beat of Philippe's correspondent-love-interest, I never felt any sense that these people would not be together by the end; there's one little bump in this road, maybe two, though it's only with the sense that 'hey, I'm quadriplegic, can't let her see that'. I get that it's something to make us feel for him, that he needs to overcome his fears. But I think a big part of it is an overall 'light' touch; yes, Driss may have a criminal background, and yes he has a big family to support in the projects (not that we see much of them, which seems like an odd choice that they just accept this), and sure Philippe has seemingly all the money in the world (where does he get it from, who knows, rich family, they never say).
So in other words, there are stakes here, but given that this man can't walk or move, or that Driss has an upward climb in life, it all comes back to just... silly jokes in a lot of scenes, playful flirting between Driss and a woman in the main house not having it, life lessons learned in montage. It's a movie that has a heart in a good place, I can't question that, and being that it's based on a true story (and boy does the ending remind you!) it's hard to say this wasn't credible in the sense of it coming from real life in a certain way. It may be a certain feeling like it's running through things I could see in a lessor TV movie, the beats of conflicts that one might see on a sitcom even (again the teenage girl plot, where she never feels like a character, just a thing that gets used from time to time to move little events forward). Even the moment where the third act gets into gear, a little conflict as Driss has to go away to fix some things and they call it quits, it's just... OK.
If you love this movie, I'm happy for you. For me, it just didn't win me over completely - not so much manipulation or pulling at the heartstrings (though it tries at times), just an overall feeling like it's missing some things that could make it FEEL more important, more substantive.