Friendzone movie review: French rom-com can be a good watch for a teenager, not adults

The storyline is predictable and one may find most parts annoying and boring in fact. The film though has some funny jabs and unpredictable twists which ultimately lead to the usual overdramatic climax.

Friendzone

Friendzone

Story:

The French romantic comedy directed by Charles Van Tieghem follows a hopeless romantic and underconfident Thibault who falls in love with beautiful Rose whom he meets at a bachelorette party. But before he could confess his love for her, he gets 'friendzoned'. His three girl pals help him build his confidence and teach him all about 'what girls want'.

Review:

The film opens with a beautiful picturesque landscape and a van pulling over at a beach. The lead character Thibault (played by Mickaël Lumière) and his three girl pals (played by Fadily Camara, Manon Azem and Constance Arnoult) step out of the woman talking about one of them getting married and how they are looking forward to the bachelorette party.

The story primarily focuses on Thibault who meets Rose (Nada Belka) at the party while taking a dip later in the night in the ocean. The sequences of a gay man hitting on Thibault and him carrying Rose later into her room after she gets stung by some fish at the beach are quite funny.

The film can maybe make for a good teenage movie. It would not be a huge loss if an adult misses it. The storyline is predictable and one may find most parts annoying and boring, in fact. The parts where Thibault goes for a makeover and gets into a relationship with a social media influencer Jennifer (Eloïse Valli) to get Rose jealous are so old tactics from the playbook.

The film though has some funny jabs, especially towards the end. You feel relieved when the story has an unpredictable twist in the second half but as you rejoice, it lets you down with the usual overdramatic end - the boy realises that Rose is the love of his life and chases her down before she flies off to Spain.

Spoiler alert! The scene where Thibault runs out of the hospital to find and confess his love for Rose and gets hit by a van will have you pop out your eyes. It is followed by a really funny funeral scene where a priest prays for Thibault. By the time you come to terms with these incidents, the film cuts to a hospital room where Thibault wakes up from his coma. Of course, the funeral was a dream sequence. Conveniently, Thibault wakes up just before Rose's flight and runs away again with the help of his girlfriends to meet Rose and patch things up with her.

We understand how important continuity is in a film. But it gets unrealistic sometimes. The two teenage patients, who confess their liking for each other, seem to be staying in the hospital forever. The story doesn't reveal much about their health issues but you do not expect them to see in a hospital for so long especially when you see no visible injuries on them and that they can walk well with no support. All they have is a saline bottle hanging next to their beds.

The performances of the actors are really good. Eloïse Valli gives you a few giggles as an overdramatic Instagram influencer with two million views and someone who considers her job to be more important than that of a nurse. Mickaël Lumière has done a decent job but he does not know how to pull a sad face. His expression while standing out in the rain (another cliché) after realising that Rose considers him just a friend looks childish. It makes you laugh rather than feeling sorry for him. Probably, the makers wanted to show his childlike innocence but it was not executed well.    

The director and cinematographer have done well with the overall tone of the film but it was nothing out of the ordinary. The background score fails to engross you into the story of the film. In fact, in many places, it goes unnoticeable.

Verdict:

The film is a usual teenage drama trying to convey a message that every person and relationship are unique and that there are no set of standard rules that one needs to follow to get someone to fall in love with you. It wouldn't be a huge loss if you give it a miss.

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Cast and Crew

Manon Azem

Maxime Gasteuil

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