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Slap Her, She's French Review By Shawn McKenzie 09/02/2002 It is very suspicious when a Hollywood movie is released with absolutely no advertising. That was the case with Slap Her, She’s French. I had never heard of it when I got the screening pass, and I had finally seen the trailer for the movie when I went to see Blue Crush. I know I had posted the release date for it on my Movies page, but I really didn’t know anything about it. The strange thing was, it was going to be released the next day, August 30! (It has since been pushed back to September 20, my guess being that I wasn’t the only one who hadn’t heard about it.) (News as of 9/12/02: it was pushed back again to November 8. Update 1/16/2003: as you can tell, it didn't meet any of its release dates last year. Its distributor, the Premiere Marketing and Distribution Group, is still seeking financing to reschedule their films in 2003. I will keep you updated if I hear anything.)
What is the movie about? Well, it is kind of a loose remake of 1950’s All About Eve. The main difference being that it is high school students instead of Hollywood actresses. It is the story of Starla Grady (Jane McGregor), a popular high school student living in Texas who dreams of someday being a network morning show anchor. She thinks the best way to make it to that position is to win a beauty contest. She wins the beauty contest by making her family sound caring by announcing that they would be taking in a foreign exchange student, something that her parents, Arnie (Brandon Smith) and Bootsie (Julie White), had asked her if she didn’t them doing, and she had objected to originally. Enter Genevieve LePlouff (Piper Perabo), an innocent French girl who is fascinated with America and its culture. Genevieve wants to learn everything about Starla and the way she lives, which Starla is more than willing to share, especially if she can get Genevieve to help her with her French class, the only subject she is failing. If Starla fails French class, she will be forced to sit out of cheerleading (and she is the captain of the squad.) As time goes on, Starla starts to notice her popularity decreasing and Genevieve’s popularity increasing. Suddenly everyone is wearing French berets and her quarterback boyfriend Kyle (Matt Czuchry) starts dating Genevieve. With her brother Randolph (Jesse James) and a photographer for the school paper named Ed Mitchell (Trent Ford), Starla sets upon trying to find out why her life is being flipped upside down and how Genevieve is able to steal her life away.
I really didn’t think Slap Her, She’s French was too bad. It made me laugh several times, even if it was recycled jokes from many high school revenge movies of the past. I don’t know if I would recommend everybody rushing out and seeing it in the theater (if it ever comes to a theater), but it’s worth a rent. Perabo did a great job playing the innocent girl turned bad girl. McGregor is going to be a great future comedic actress (this is her first major theatrical role.)
Probably the biggest problem I had with the movie was its title. How marketable is a movie called Slap Her, She’s French? Maybe that is why it hasn’t gotten much press and why it has been pushed back. The movie itself is cute and fun, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a new title once the advertising starts. Check it out if it finally comes to a theater near you if you are in the mood to see a brainless but fun little comedy.
Ratings System:
SEE THIS MOVIE!
Catch this movie at the theater if you can...
Wait until it comes out on video...
Wait until it plays on HBO, Showtime, Starz, etc...
Demand your money back, even if you saw it for free!
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