Of all of Francis Veber's farces (The Dinner Game, La Cage Aux Folles, etc.), this is the one that feels most like a sitcom pilot, which is to say it's a farce most forced.
The Valet(La doublure)
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
France, Italy, Belgium · 2006
Rated PG-13 · 1h 25m
Director Francis Veber
Starring Gad Elmaleh, Alice Taglioni, Daniel Auteuil, Kristin Scott Thomas
Genre Comedy
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
After a paparazzi photograph of Pierre and his mistress hits the tabloid, the wealthy tycoon's marriage falls into crisis. Divorce is not an option, since Pierre's wife owns the majority of their shared corporation. Desperate to convince her of his innocence, Pierre hires another man in the photograph to pose as his lover's actual boyfriend.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
A sunny, cheerful, thoroughly artificial concoction, going nowhere with no particular speed. Still, better than your average airplane movie.
Its punchline, imagining the worst that could happen to Auteuil's slimy exec, is weak and kind of dumb, but the rest of the film is genial, appealing, and brisk.
Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan
A complete master of cinematic farce, Veber's latest venture, The Valet, makes creating deliciously funny comedy look a lot easier than it has any right to.
As always in Veber's films, the predictability is part of the fun.
Layers of intrigue mesh with Hollywood-style efficiency, pitting sincere feelings against ruthlessly mercenary machinations. Also in Hollywood style, sincerity and integrity carry the day.
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
A satisfying contraption of twists, missteps, and blithe repartee that produces old-fashioned, honestly earned guffaws.
TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh
The films of writer/director Francis Veber are a bracing reminder that French comedies can be every bit as broad, unsophisticated and cliched as their American counterparts.
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
If you love to hate the superrich, The Valet, a delectable comedy in which the great French actor Daniel Auteuil portrays a piggy billionaire industrialist facing his comeuppance, is a sinfully delicious bonbon.
Users who liked this film also liked
My Best Friend
(Mon Meilleur Ami)
François’s business partner bets him that he does not have a best friend—now he has ten days to find one.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2006
- Director Patrice Leconte
- Cast Daniel Auteuil, Dany Boon, Julie Gayet, Julie Durand, Henri Garcin, Jacques Mathou
- Genre Comedy
- Available on Apple TV
Priceless
(Hors de prix)
She only dated men with money... until she met a man with a heart.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2006
- Director Pierre Salvadori
- Cast Gad Elmaleh, Audrey Tautou, Marie-Christine Adam, Vernon Dobtcheff, Jacques Spiesser, Annelise Hesme
- Genre Drama, Comedy, Romance
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Spectrum On Demand, Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, YouTube Free, Freevee, Kanopy, Hoopla
The Closet
(Le Placard)
To prevent his imminent firing, a man spreads the rumor of his fake homosexuality with the aid of his friendly neighbor.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2001
- Director Francis Veber
- Cast Daniel Auteuil, Gérard Depardieu, Thierry Lhermitte, Michèle Laroque, Michel Aumont, Jean Rochefort
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Changing Sides
(De l'autre côté du lit)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2009
- Director Pascale Pouzadoux
- Cast Dany Boon, Sophie Marceau, Antoine Duléry, Roland Giraud, Anny Duperey, Juliette Arnaud
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
After You
(Après vous...)
A man saves another man's life and gets him back on his feet, but not without accidentally inserting himself in a love triangle.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2003
- Director Pierre Salvadori
- Cast Daniel Auteuil, Sandrine Kiberlain, Marilyne Canto, Michèle Moretti, José Garcia
- Genre Comedy, Romance
- Available on Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube
A Pain in the Ass
(L'Emmerdeur)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2008
- Director Francis Veber
- Cast Richard Berry, Patrick Timsit, Pascal Elbé, Virginie Ledoyen, Laurent Paolini, Michel Aumont
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Gad Elmaleh - L’autre c’est moi
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2005
- Director Jean-Louis Cap
- Cast Gad Elmaleh
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Tresor
(Trésor)
- ✭ ✭
- France • 2009
- Director François Dupeyron, Claude Berri
- Cast Alain Chabat, Mathilde Seigner, Fanny Ardant, Isabelle Nanty, Hélène Vincent, Stéphane Freiss
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
On Guard
(Le Bossu)
A count uses nefarious methods to inherit a dukedom that was never truly his.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Italy, Germany • 1997
- Director Philippe de Broca
- Cast Daniel Auteuil, Fabrice Luchini, Vincent Perez, Marie Gillain, Yann Collette, Jean-François Stévenin
- Genre Adventure
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, Kanopy
The Under-Gifted In Vacation
(Les Sous-Doués En Vacances)
- ✭ ✭
- France • 1982
- Director Claude Zidi
- Cast Daniel Auteuil, Guy Marchand, Grace de Capitani, Charlotte de Turckheim, Jean-Paul Farré, Hubert Deschamps
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Les Aristos
- ✭ ✭
- France • 2006
- Director Charlotte de Turckheim
- Cast Charlotte de Turckheim, Jacques Weber, Vincent Desagnat, Victoria Abril, Rossy de Palma, Rudi Rosenberg
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Adversary
(L'Adversaire)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Switzerland, Spain • 2002
- Director Nicole Garcia
- Cast Daniel Auteuil, Géraldine Pailhas, François Cluzet, François Berléand, Emmanuelle Devos, Alice Fauvet
- Genre Mystery, Drama, Crime
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, YouTube
The Toy
(Le jouet)
- ✭
- France • 1976
- Director Francis Veber
- Cast Pierre Richard, Michel Bouquet, Fabrice Greco, Jacques François, Daniel Ceccaldi, Charles Gérard
- Genre Comedy, Drama
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Fandango At Home
A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die
(Una ragione per vivere e una per morire)
A handful of condemned men on an impossible mission, against hopeless odds...
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France, West Germany • 1972
- Director Tonino Valerii
- Cast James Coburn, Telly Savalas, Bud Spencer, Georges Géret, Reinhard Kolldehoff, Guy Mairesse
- Genre Western
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, ScreenPix Apple TV Channel, Amazon Video, Tubi TV, Hoopla, Plex Channel
An Italian Romance
(L'amore ritrovato)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France • 2004
- Director Carlo Mazzacurati
- Cast Stefano Accorsi, Maya Sansa, Marco Messeri, Anne Canovas, Roberto Citran, Marie-Christine Descouard
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Tubi TV
Among Friends
(Entre amis)
- ✭ ✭
- France • 2015
- Director Olivier Baroux
- Cast Daniel Auteuil, Gérard Jugnot, François Berléand, Zabou Breitman, Mélanie Doutey, Isabelle Gélinas
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Help, I Shrunk My Teacher
(Hilfe, ich hab meine Lehrerin geschrumpft)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Germany, Austria • 2015
- Director Sven Unterwaldt Jr.
- Cast Axel Stein, Justus von Dohnányi, Anja Kling, Oskar Keymer, Lina Hüesker, Johannes Zeiler
- Genre Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Action
- Available on Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Fandango At Home, Amazon Video, YouTube, Tubi TV, VUDU Free, Xumo Play, Hoopla
Ladies
(De plus belle)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Belgium • 2017
- Director Anne-Gaëlle Daval
- Cast Florence Foresti, Mathieu Kassovitz, Jonathan Cohen, Josée Drevon, Olivia Bonamy, Nicole Garcia
- Genre Romance, Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.