Heartbreaker (L'Arnacoeur) (2010)
Average Rating: 6.7/10
Reviews Counted: 75
Fresh: 52 | Rotten: 23
While definitely on the fluffier side of French comedy, Heartbreaker benefits from never taking itself too seriously -- and from the performance of the ever-charming Romain Duris.
Average Rating: 5.6/10
Critic Reviews: 12
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 6
While definitely on the fluffier side of French comedy, Heartbreaker benefits from never taking itself too seriously -- and from the performance of the ever-charming Romain Duris.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 15,306
Movie Info
HEARTBREAKER is an action-packed romantic comedy pairing two of France's biggest young stars: Romain Duris (THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED, PARIS) and actress/singer Vanessa Paradis (GIRL ON THE BRIDGE). A smash hit in France, the film was also featured at the Tribeca Film Festival. Charming, funny and effortlessly cool, Alex (Duris) is a professional heartbreaker who for a fee can turn any husband, fiance or boyfriend into an ex. Alex has one ironclad rule: He only breaks up couples where the
Watch It Now
Cast
-
Romain Duris
Alex -
Vanessa Paradis
Juliette -
Julie Ferrier
Mélanie, Mélanie, M... -
François Damiens
Marc -
Héléna Noguerra
Sophie -
Andrew Lincoln
Jonathan -
Jacques Frantz
Van Der Becq -
Amandine Dewasmes
Florence -
Jean-Yves Lafesse
Dutour -
Jean-Marie Paris
Goran -
Tarek Boudali
Manager of Montecarl... -
Philippe Lacheau
The Companion -
Geoffrey Bateman
Juliette's Father-in... -
Natasha Casheman
Juliette's Mother-in... -
Franck Massiah
Franck -
Hiromi Asai
Japanese Businesswom... -
Sophie Jezequel
Office Employee -
Audrey Lamy
Policewoman -
Dominique Gaffieri
Auctioneer -
Elodie Frenck
Alex's Girlfriend -
Julien Arruti
Florence's Brother -
Camille Figuereos
Curling Player -
Nina Melo
Young Gospel Woman -
Adina Cartianu
Librarian
ADVERTISEMENT
Heartbreaker (L'Arnacoeur) Trailer & Photos
Friend Ratings
No Friends? Inconceivable! Log in to see what your friends have to say.
All Critics (75) | Top Critics (12) | Fresh (52) | Rotten (23)
It sparkles like champagne. It's not the good stuff, but it'll do the trick.
Top CriticIt has neither a cynic's conviction nor idealist's perseverance, and its ideas about what a woman wants seem cribbed from bad paperback fiction.
Chaumeil's comedy cum scenery -- mainly Monte Carlo -- gives the mercurial Romain Duris a chance to show his chops as an homme fatal.
Alas, it turns out to be just as bad as any routine French romantic comedy -- illogical, inconsistent and sloppily written, a charmless, tasteless, witless waste of time.
The travelogue component of Heartbreaker is its best selling point.
Yes, Heartbreaker is diverting, intermittently charming and occasionally funny, but it is also a jumble of jammed-together notions.
To fully appreciate the pleasures of Pascal Chaumeil's debut feature, Heartbreaker, it helps to know-and love-Dirty Dancing.
Like "How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days," only funnier, fresher. And French.
This is fun, frothy screwball stuff that won't demand much more cerebral participation than reading the subtitles. But, like Duris, it should charm your pants off.
A romantic comedy with a decidedly French twist ... There's bound to be a Hollywood remake, but you can be sure it won't have anything like the same élan.
In being farcical instead of cute, Heartbreaker reveals itself as a welcome treat. It leaves you knowingly happy.
While it opens with a promising start, this quickly becomes a vacuous and formulaic romantic comedy.
A romantic comedy that is charming and light as a souffle.
A light and fluffy internationalised French rom-com, stripped of any quirkiness and with little heat generated between Vanessa Paradis and Roman Duris as romantic leads.
At its core, the film fails to convince us
A funny and utterly charming romantic comedy
Heartbreaker really isn't terrible - there are a few moments of manic slapstick and the actors are charismatic even when their characters are boorish. But it's a movie for people who think movies are about wasting time.
"Unapologetically silly."
Heartbreaker is a French attempt at an American romantic comedy. At this endeavor it is a total success - in the sense that it's as trite and contrived as most of our romcoms.
It ain't all "Breathless" and "Jules and Jim" in Paris, apparently; they can churn out glossy, formulaic entertainment like "Heartbreaker," too.
Manages to be such a pleasant little soufflé of a movie that it's hard not to like it on its own terms.
Hollywood should sit up and take notice of how to revitalize the romantic comedy with the fresh and original spin from director Pascal Chaumeil in his feature film debut.
"Heartbreaker" has some amusing moments and gorgeous settings (the Riviera), but it never achieves the smooth slickness director Pascal Chaumeil aims for.
What "Heartbreaker" lacks in suspense it makes up for in charm, especially when Duris and Paradis start re-enacting numbers from "Dirty Dancing."
Pascal Chaumeil's debut rom-com gets by with a little help from Romain Duris and the enduring beauty of Vanessa Paradis. He may not be so lucky next time.
Romain Duris (Paris) is ridiculously engaging... If only the film had trusted in its own premise, instead of succumbing to the blandness of the conventional.
Audience Reviews for Heartbreaker (L'Arnacoeur)
Super Reviewer
Stuck between screwball comedy that allows Alex to emerge unscathed from a high-speed collision with a car and honest romance that features Alex and Juliette staring longingly into the sunset, Heartbreaker is a mixed bag that is charming and funny when it's good and insufferably sophomoric when it's bad. Its understanding of relationships seems drawn from Cosmo articles as the film expects us to be that a few faked tears will destroy a relationship, but the stars, Romain Duris and Vanessa Paradis, are able to make badly written scenes plausible.
Overall, I liked Heartbreaker in spite of itself.
Super Reviewer
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Question: Ladies, this question goes out to you. What could a guy do that would make you fall in love with him? I know a hard question to answer. I have my thoughts but I am going to keep those to myself. However, I just watched a film called Heartbreaker (I know the title doesn't evoke much confidence in finding true love) and found that sometimes it's what we do that makes the guy fall in love with us first. When that happens, we allow the thought to be possible and then all bets are off. We fall and we fall hard!
Heartbreaker is a French film (L'arnacoeur). I know, not my typical movie genre, but I might have mentioned I am expanding my movie tastes. Plus, I am finding it easier to read subtitles and still see and enjoy the movie. There weren't any movies available at the time at the theatre yesterday that I wanted to see. I waited until the evening to check my Netflix Instant Play queue. Heartbreaker was on my list. It was recommended to me after I posted my last foreign film - Sarah's Key (a French film) so it was on my queue. I watched the preview - yes, I did - and I was intrigued. I remembered it was a comedy (and a romance) and I could really use a comedy these days so I hit PLAY.
So, here's the gist: Alex Lippi (played by Romain Duris) is a break-up artist. People hire him to find the doubt that is already there within a woman so she will break-up with her (usually deadbeat) boyfriend. His job is not to start dating or have them fall in love with him - just make them realize they are with the wrong person. The opening scene(s) showed dozens of women kissing this guy (break-up artist) who just happens to cry in front of them and tell them that they made him feel alive again. Voila! Break-up.
The rest of the film shows Alex and his team hired to break-up a relationship only 10 days before the wedding. Usually that is not enough time but they accept the challenge. Ok - no more details - you have to see it for yourselves. I will say once this part of the movie started I really enjoyed it. As I was watching this film (and reading) I discovered that I was smiling through a lot of it. Sometimes I was even giggling or doing whatever odd facial and hand movements I do when I can't believe I saw what I just saw. You know what I mean, right? Well, if not - just trust me there are some funny parts to Heartbreaker.
So, let's discuss the main actors: Romain Duris. This was my first movie of his but I have feeling it won't be my last. His performance was intriguing to say the least. Although I did not find him all that attractive he had a certain charm and sex-appeal. My focus sharpened whenever he was on screen - which was for the majority of this movie. When there were moments of tender thoughts I felt what he felt. There are only of few of those but he sucked me right in. On the flip-side - his comedic act was a treat to watch as well. Plus, there is one scene that I think those ladies who grew up in the 80's will enjoy - yes, I was one of them.
Juliette Van Der Becq (played by Vanessa Paradis) was the woman he was hired to show her the error of her ways. Some of you might recognize her; she is Johnny Depp's girlfriend. As with Romain Duris, this was my first time seeing her act as well. I may sound a little biased or heavy-handed here but I found her performance to be a bit on the weak side as compared to Romain Duris. She is supposed to be playing this damaged (although we don't know why she is damaged for most of the story), beautiful, wealthy women who is marrying what appears to be the perfect man. So, what's the problem? I know now but it took a while to get there.
So all-in-all I liked Heartbreaker. My first French comedy but I have feeling it won't be my last.
My favorite thing: The dance - I won't describe what that means but I loved it!
My least favorite thing: That I was jealous that it was filmed in Monaco..I so want to see that city.
Rating: Couldn't find a consistent rating but there is cursing and a little nudity.
Length: 105 Minutes
Rating: 7 out of 10
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
-
- Alex: And to attain our goal.....anything goes.
-
- Alex: I break up couples for a living.
Discussion Forum
Discuss Heartbreaker (L'Arnacoeur) on our Movie forum!
What's Hot On RT
Brick Mansions star RZA
175 cosplay pictures
Experiments Gone Wrong!
See the season's blockbusters
Read reviews for newest episode
Latest News on Heartbreaker (L'Arnacoeur)
September 9, 2010:
Critics Consensus: Guess Resident Evil: Afterlife's Tomatometer!This week at the movies brings only one wide release: The fourth installment of the zombie-infested...
Fresh Links
Featured
25 Best Superhero Movies
HitFix counts down the greatest hero flicks of all time.
100 Best Animated Movies
From anime to Disney, TimeOut NY breaks it all down.
Models Turned Actresses
BuzzSugar lists a number of models who left the runway for the big screen.
16 Shocking TV Moments
RollingStone recounts some of the most famous heart-stopping scenes.
Jai Courtney Talks Terminator Genesis
The Divergent stars drops some fresh details.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter!
Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
Featured on RT
- 24 Frames: Experiments Gone Wrong 0
- Trailer: John Malkovich is Blackbeard in NBC's Crossbones 3
- Now Streaming: Son of Batman, Short Term 12, and More 3
- RT Podcast: Ep. 4 - Game of Thrones Recap 'Breaker of Chains' (SPOILERS) 2
- Five Favorite Films with RZA 33
- HBO Go's Hilarious New Ad Campaign Will Make You Cringe 1
- Box Office Guru Wrapup: Captain America Triumphs Again 36
Top Headlines
-
The Voice Helps NBC Top Tuesday Rating Demos
0
-
The Other Woman Cast Interview
0
-
HBO Shows Coming to Amazon Prime
0
-
Quentin Tarantino's Hateful Eight Lawsuit Dismissed
0
-
Mystery Science Theater Might Return
0
-
Original Star Wars Storyboards Collected in New Book
0
-
New Flash Gordon Movie Developing at Fox
0
Foreign Titles
- Der Auftragslover (DE)
- L'arnacoeur (FR)
