Hollywoo (2011)
Directed by Frédéric Berthe, Pascal Serieis

Film Review

Florence Foresti and Jamel Debbouze, two of France's best-known comedians, singularly fail to hit it off in this lacklustre comedy, which feels less like a film and more like a string of (mostly unfunny) sketches haphazardly strung together.  Despite the evident enthusiasm of the two central performers, Hollywoo just fails too get off the ground and instead of offering an amusing Frenchman's view of Hollywood it is content merely to churn out an endless succession of gags that are well past their sell-by date and which rely almost exclusively on well-worn (and slightly offensive) stereotypes.  The film proved to be a hit in France, attracting an audience of 2.3 million (such was the lure of the Foresti-Debbouze billing), but is unlikely to have any impact abroad.  After the success of her recent one-woman shows, Foresti ought to have done far better than lend her name and her talents to this limp, completely unsophisticated comedy.

Film Synopsis

Jeanne's livelihood as a voiceover artist is put in jeopardy when Jennifer Marshall, the American actress she dubs for a popular television series, decides to give up acting altogether.  For the young French woman, this is disastrous news, so to save her own career she takes the next flight to Los Angeles and sets about trying to find the famous actress and persuade her to return to the job she does so well.  It is a mission that will require all of Jeanne's perseverance and powers of persuasion, and if she fails she may end up spending the rest of her life providing voiceovers for dumb advertisements.  Jeanne's adventures in Hollywood do not begin well and she soon realises she is wasting her time.  But then she runs into someone called Farres who offers her an opportunity to hit the big time that she would never have dared hope for...