Paris-Manhattan

Riffing on everything from Hannah and Her Sisters to Play It Again, Sam, Sophie Lellouche's debut feature is a fun but insubstantial fan letter to Woody Allen. Pharmacist Alice (Alice Taglioni) lives her life according to the wisdom of Woody and even has imaginary conversations with him. Because the men she meets never match up to the high standards set by her idol, she is still single, much to the despair of her dysfunctional Jewish family. Alice's love life picks up when she meets the suave Yannick Soulier, who not only loves Allen movies but is also a Cole Porter fan. However, she also has another admirer in the shape of craggy security alarm expert Patrick Bruel, who doesn't know much about her hero, but may understand her better than she thinks. As a homage to one of the Hollywood greats, Paris-Manhattan has oodles of charm, but if it was an actual Woody Allen film, it would have to go down as one of his minor works.