ALIBI. COM
France, 2017, 90 minutes, Colour.
Philippe Lacheau, Elodie Fontan, Julien Arruti, Tarek Boudadli, Didier Bourdon, Nathalie Baye, Nawell Madani.
Directed by Philippe Lacheau.
Very French comedy. Or, rather, a lighthearted French farce with quite some amusement, some laugh out loud moments.
The film lives up to its title. Writer-director and star, Philippe Lacheau, plays Gregory, who runs a company which provides alibis for quite a ride range of characters, mainly men, some women, and a little boy who wants excuses to skip school. (The film ends with many of themgetting their comeuppance, the boy left stranded at the gates of a boarding school!) The film opens with a series of episodes illustrating the wide range (and ingenuity, of the alibis created.
Gregory is assisted by Augustin (Julien Arruti) something of a nerd who has been devoted to Gregory for a long time. And Gregory is interviewing a rather dapper candidate to join the team, a Muslim, Mehdi (Tarek Boudali).
It all changes when they see a dog tied to a tree and they untie it, commenting badly on careless dog owners, the dog running away and getting hit by a car, when its owner, who has had an emergency and had to go behind a tree, emerges. Gregory has a plausible explanation, is attracted by Flo (Elodie Fontan) and romance ensues. When she invites him to meet her parents, he discovers that her father is one of his philandering clients.
Flo, in fact, says she is a solicitor, wanting to expose all kinds of frauds. Gregory says he is a flight attendant! All kinds of farcical situations follow, Flo’s father going on his romantic weekend, instead of a pharmacy convention, with a singer who with has expensive tastes. His wife, Nathalie Baye, looking at his computer finds out where he is and surprises him. He takes it in his stride, smooth and his excuses, explaining himself to Flo. In fact, the older couple acknowledge the sternness of their marriage and make up.
However, Gregory said he would be in Tanzania and is at pains to send photos of himself with a zebra, he and his team going to a zoo, trying to get a photo, the zebra running away, complications with Gypsy owners of the zebra… In the meantime Augustin gets caught up with a group of partygoers and lets his hair down. Mehdi, on the other hand, is on surveillance, floating on the water, sleeping and getting sunburnt!
Gregory finishes up in jail because of the stealing of the zebra. On release, some thugs threaten him and he encourages them to harm him because of his failure with Flo (who, fortunately, is outside the door listening in).
A bit of French fluff. Undemanding (except on the characters and their alibis) light entertainment.
