Slap Her... She's French (2002)

User Rating:

4.9/10   

Director:

Melanie Mayron

Writers (WGA):

Lamar Damon (written by) &
Robert Lee King (written by)

Release Date:

7 February 2002 (Germany)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

No French People Were Harmed In The Making Of This Film.

Plot:

A French foreign-exchange student comes to a small Texas high school, befriends a classmate, and practically takes over her life.

Plot Keywords:

French | Exchange Student | Cheerleader | Texas | High School

Cast

Piper Perabo	...	Genevieve Le Plouff
Jane McGregor	...	Starla Grady
Trent Ford	...	Ed Mitchell
Julie White	...	Bootsie Grady
Brandon Smith	...	Arnie Grady
Jesse James	...	Randolph Grady
Nicki Aycox	...	Tanner Jennings
Alexandra Adi	...	Ashley Lopez
Matt Czuchry	...	Kyle Fuller
Cristen Coppen	...	Doreen Gilmore
Michael McKean	...	Monsieur Duke
Mary Portser	...	Kimmy Sue Sprinkle
Katherine Cortez	...	Lurlene Haskell
Jerry Cotton	...	Sheriff Flinkman
Kirk Sisco	...	News Contest Judge

Also Known As:

Freche Biester! (Germany)
She Gets What She Wants (USA) (TV title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sex-related humor, drug content and language.

Runtime:

92 min | USA:88 min | Germany:84 min (TV version)

Country:

Germany | UK | USA

Language:

English | French | Spanish | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:L | Ireland:15 | Netherlands:6 | Australia:PG | Canada:PG | Finland:K-11 | Germany:12 | Norway:11 | Spain:7 | Sweden:7 | UK:12 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Building One, Studios at Las Colinas - 6301 North O'Connor Road, Irving, Texas, USA

Company:

Bandeira Entertainment

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): The opening narration has Starla mentioning famous people that were from Texas, but three of those mentioned are not native Texans: John Wayne was born in Iowa; George Bush was born in Massachusetts; George W. Bush was born in Connecticut.

Quotes:

[Starla sees Genevieve dancing with her boyfriend]
Starla Grady: You messed with the wrong cooze, flooze. Get ready to par-tee!

Movie Connections:

References Revenge of the Nerds (1984)

Soundtrack:

The Beef Song

Teen comedy without brains

Rating: 12 Stars: Piper Perabo, Jane McGregor Theme: Teen comedy Violence/Language/Nudity: Comedy violence and occasional strong language

Very few films these days have a title which deserve the applause this one does. Regardless of the quality of the movie, Slap Her.She's French is simply a brilliant, and completely unexplained, title. So after worshipping one of the funniest film titles of all time, is the movie any where near as good as the name promises. Well, no. But then the title is a lot to live up to, so its not to say that the film isn't any good at all. A French foreign exchange student comes to stay with a stereotypical hicksville Texan family and their beauty pageant winning daughter. The French girl, however, is not all that she seems. Essentially this film abuses the French and the Texans, so far its appealing to most Brits.

The story is pretty predictable, as are most of the jokes. The characters are all stereotypes, conforming to tried and tested formulae. Slap Her. sets itself up as an inferior version of Drop Dead Gorgeous. The narrative is slow to start and when it eventually does, has plot holes the size of the Lone Star State. Not all the jokes miss the mark though. For every couple of missed funnies, there is one laugh out loud moment. Some of the set pieces are neat and will appeal to the audience with a slightly more discerning tastes, but these moments are rare and unappreciated by the film's creators. You can't help but feel that had this been made by a British team the humour would have been that bit more subtle and consistent. The narrative itself is incredibly slow to start, something which could have been avoided had the director (Melanie Mayron) realised that we already knew everything she was telling us about her characters. A montage sequence would have been far more successful method of exposition.

The performances are varied. Perabo as the "obviously" French Genevieve is either wasted or just plain useless, we can only hope its the former. McGregor's Starla (even the name's obvious) is over the top but appealing. The supporting cast often fair better, but are hideously underdeveloped. The entire lesbian relationship sub plot of Starla's two best friends comes and goes without rhyme nor reason. Starla's mum (Julie White) and her alcoholic ice tea habit could have been a thread worth developing, but there is no reason for it being mentioned at all with the script the way it stands. Even Starla's consumption of an entire flask of her mum's favourite tipple fails to create any humour from her inevitable drunkenness. Starla's saviours are her brother (Jesse James) and school newspaper photographer Ed (Trent Ford). Neither of whom are used anywhere near as much as they should have been. These actors and their performances suggest that this movie could have been so much more than it is, had the actors been given the script that you get the impression could have existed.

Many of the movies problems stem from the sensation that there was originally a much larger and more complete script that followed through some of the story lines suggested in the final piece. It is almost as if the makers didn't want to offend anyone too much and therefore removed lots of the superior narrative. This all leads to an average movie that could have been so much more. Never quite reaching straight to video levels, this is never going to be a classic in the vein of Ten Things I Hate About You, which it easily could have been. As a Sunday night diversion Slap Her.She's French is acceptable. There are enough laughs to prevent you feeling cheated, and a slightly warm fuzzy feeling that you just can't help getting in your stomache. This is simply a teen comedy which missed the opportunity to be a classic of the genre, and you just can't help feeling that it really could have been a contender.

Mark: 5/10 Who to go with: Your girlfriend or younger sister