My Wife Is an Actress

In real life, sort-of-famous French actor Yvan Attal is married to very famous French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, and their new film together is a bellybutton-gazing comedy that explores and exaggerates Attal's own neuroses about being married to a big star. He writes, directs and plays a sports journalist, who is happily married to a famous actress (Gainsbourg) but is becoming jealous over having to share her with the world--and especially with her lady-killing cad of a co-star (Terence Stamp, The Limey) in her latest film, a romantic drama with a major sex scene. Percolating with potential, My Wife Is an Actress has inspired moments of behind-the-scenes wit, and Attal effectively taps into his character's (or is it his own?) psyche as paranoia brings out the worst in him. But as the husband-wife relationship becomes strained, the comedy veers off into extreme instances of emotional immaturity that only serve to make these characters annoying. Stamp is particularly entertaining, playing his aging superstar character as a lecherous riff on Sean Connery, but the picture's cleverness is muted by the leads--the very people who are intended to make it shine. Optional. [Note: DVD extras (the majority of which are in French with English subtitles) include audio commentary by writer-director Yvan Attal, a 16-minute making-of featurette, four deleted scenes, and trailers. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a so-so film.] (R. Blackwelder)