About two-thirds of the way through “Lolo,” the title
character, a struggling, smug young artist still living at home, is having a
conversation with his mother’s new boyfriend about their living arrangement.
Although mom has already given him the boot, the son attempts to save face by
convincing the boyfriend that moving out was his idea. “I need my space,” he
says. “We're not gonna play blended families like some dumb American comedy.”
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| Julie Delpy (center) directed and stars in "Lolo" with Dany Boon (left) and Vincent Lacoste. |
It’s a shame, considering “Lolo” was directed and
co-written by Julie Delpy, who also plays the mom and is the talented, radiant
French star of many enduring, intellectually challenging films—from Richard
Linklater’s smart, sensitive “Before Sunrise” trilogy; to “White,” the darkly
funny and brilliant middle chapter of the late Polish director Krzysztof
Kieślowski’s contemplative, masterful Three
Colors trilogy.
Delpy does get some pretty good performances from her
cast. Dany Boon is endearing as Jean-Rene, the computer geek who falls in love
with Delpy’s character, Violette, an exec on the chic Parisian fashion scene; Karin
Viard is the sassy Ariane, Violette’s sexually candid best friend; and Vincent
Lacoste is effective as Lolo, the duplicitous, clingy son with a sinister, half-realized
Oedipus complex.
But the film’s sense of humor is more sophomoric and vulgar
than inspired or funny. The ways in which the devious Lolo attempts to sabotage
his mother’s relationship with a series of cruel practical jokes leveled at
Jean-Rene—spreading itching powder onto his clothes, slipping a tranquilizer
into his drink at a party, sending a pair of hookers into his room while he’s
sleeping—demonstrate that the infantile comedy here never really rises above
sitcom level.
About the only thing the movie proves is that, touché,
the French can make dumb American comedies just as well as Americans.
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