The Dinner Guest

Both Daniel Auteuil and Thierry Lhermitte are well-grounded in this style of French middle-class, odd couple comedy which Francis Verber in particular has made his own (Auteuil starred in The Valet (2006) and The Closet, 2001 whilst Lhermitte was the straight guy in 1999’s The Dinner Game all by Veber). In Laurent Bouhnik's soufflé-light farce, L’Invité /The Dinner Guest, Lhermitte is back in the straight role whilst Auteil obliges as Gerard, a Parisian middle-management nobody who has spent the past three years unemployed. The set-up is that when Gerard gets a job, he invites his prospective boss to dinner but his pushy neighbour, Alexandre (Lhermitte) convinces him and his dingbat wife (Valerie Lemercier) that they have to do a complete makeover of their daggy apartment or risk losing the position.

Adapted from a play by David Pharao, the film is amusing enough as far is it goes although there is a incomplete quality in its latter part that is disconcerting, the majority of the film being devoted to the lengthy preparations for the dinner, but when it comes, it is over in a blink of the eye and from which point the film hurries through to what seems like a tacked-on ending. Lemercier is a treat as the twittish wife and there are no complaints about either Auteuil and Thierry Lhermitte but this is more a pleasant snack than a hearty meal.

DVD Extras: Original Theatrical Trailer

Available from: Madman

 

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