contrary to popular belief , not every single foregin film released to an american market is a masterpiece .
some of them are n't even good .
some examples of this principle are the aboslutely dreadful " un indien dans la ville " ( presented as " little indian , big city , " and remade into that crap tim
allen flick ,
" jungle2jungle " ) , and this .
what could have been a clever little sex comedy
turns into one mess of a french flick .
" french twist " ( the " cool " american title , not the real one , which was " gazon maudit , " literally meaning " twisted ground , " or something like that )
deals with a married couple with kids , and the intrusion of a stranger who kinda screws things up for them .
loli and alain chabat ( victoria abril and alain chabat ) are not exactly happily married .
always on business trips , alain chabat more than once cheats on her , and she eventually finds out .
and one day , she meets a butch mechanic , marijo ( the co - writer / director josiane balasko ) , and they two kinda hit it off .
so she decides she will get back at alain chabat by doing the obvious : sleeping with marijo .
but she soons starts to not only fall in love with marijo , but she 's also realizes she 's still in love with alain chabat .
so , of course , she does the obvious from that
: she decides to keep them both .
she 'll be ( and sleep ) with each of them for 3 days each , then on sunday , she 'll rest by herself .
after all , she needs it if she 's gon na have more sex than sylvia kristel .
the film goes on for over an hour and a half , through stupidity after stupidity , moronic twist after moronic twist , and soon there 's the little ironic ( ! ! ! )
ending .
i know it 's a completely different culture , and i 'm quite familiar with the french and their cinema , but this is just bad .
none of the characters are more intelligent than peter stormare in " fargo " ( a movie where stupid characters were backed up to make a point ) , and any action they do is pretty much just to get a hopeful chuckle from the audience .
what 's shocking is this was not only one of france 's biggest hits , but it was nominated for a lot of cesars ( french equivalent of oscars ) .
the writing and directing is really the big problem with it .
josiane balasko does a good acting job with her role , but her little sex comedy is n't very humerous , entertaining , or even deep at all .
even woody allen 's not - very - good " a midsummer night 's sex comedy " is intelligent , well - written , and possesses some depth .
this is shallow , unfunny , and pretty annoying to watch .
the film moves at the pace of a snail , and is damn - near painful to watch .
thank god for the fast forward button .
the acting , however , is n't bad at all .
the actors do the best they can with the bad material , and victoria abril is pretty likable despite the script ( and the fact that she 's stupid enough to try to divide herself over two people when she has kids ) .
and alain chabat has some funny moments as the neurotic husband .
but " french twist " is just pretty lame .
it 's not overly horrible , and has a couple very , very , very brief moments .
but it 's just a really crap film , and an example of an ill - advised distribution of a foreign film .
Output: N