The Valet

Another well-oiled piece of comic machinery from prolific French writer-director Francis Veber, The Valet boasts a setup that is both simple and very clever. A wealthy businessman named Pierre (Daniel Auteuil) is having an affair with a supermodel—a very dangerous fling it turns out, since his financial wellbeing depends on his wife, who actually owns the industrial empire Pierre directs. After a paparazzo photographs Pierre and his mistress on the street, the mogul and his lawyer hit upon a scheme to possibly save his hide: by pure chance a mope who parks cars at an upscale restaurant was walking past the couple when the picture was taken; if the model pretends to be in a romantic relationship with this man, maybe the wife can be fooled into believing that her philandering husband was merely an innocent bystander. The results predictably go off in various directions: when the sad-sack valet and the voluptuous model begin acting like an item, even moving in together, the businessman becomes insanely jealous despite the fact that it was all his idea, and a sweet girl who previously refused the valet's marriage proposal starts to wonder whether she's made a mistake. Another piece of comic clockwork precision by a gifted filmmaker, this is recommended. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by writer-director Francis Veber, a 46-minute “making-of” documentary, and trailers. Bottom line: a fine extras package for a solid foreign comedy.] (F. Swietek)