Belgium, France · 2018
2h 2m
Director Gilles Lellouche
Starring Guillaume Canet, Mathieu Amalric, Virginie Efira, Leïla Bekhti
Genre Comedy
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Bertrand, a middle aged man suffering from depression, joins a local synchronized swimming team for men. As he gets closer to his teammates, he discovers that they feel a lot of the same frustrations and fears as himself. After lots of practice, this group of mediocre men decide to represent France at the championships.
Veering between sentimental and salty, philosophical and goofy, writer/director Gilles Lellouche’s Gallic stab at a “Full Monty”-style uplifter is too waterlogged with the genre’s well-worn staples (training comedy, bite-sized humiliations) and too uninterested in story/character details (turning paunchy mopers into athletic competitors) to offer anything truly refreshing about the solution to middle-aged dejection.
Sink Or Swim works because of a screenplay with some genuinely funny moments and a jaunty, confident approach from Lellouche that displays his sure comic timing and faith in the performers.
The Hollywood Reporter by David Rooney
The humor is sometimes strained, and Lellouche doesn't always demonstrate the lightest of touches.
The reliably charismatic work of its players, notably ringleader Mathieu Amalric, keeps this somewhat soggy macaron diverting.
The New York Times by Jeannette Catsoulis
A gentle, genial dip into a pool of midlife despair.
It’s well-acted and broadly sympathetic, but a time-killer of a comedy that kills too much time for its own good.
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