Antonio Flores (Eugenio Derbez) is a parking valet from Los Angeles who lives with his mother cecilia (Carmen Salinas) during a separation from his wife Isabel (Marisol Nichols). During a spat with married billionaire real estate developer Vincent Royce (Max Greenfield) and his mistress prominent actress Olivia Allan (Samara Weaving) over Vincent's repeated delays in leaving his wife, Antonio inadvertently collides with them as the paparazzi photograph them. When Vincent's wife, Kathryn (Betsy Brandt) sees the photos in the tabloids Vincent concocts a story that Olivia was actually dating Antonio. When Antonio is approached by Vincent's lawyer, Daniel (Alex Fernandez), he tells him of the deal to pretend to be dating Olivia Allan which Antonio accepts for a modest fee he intends to pay of Isabel's debts. Over time Antonio and Olivia form a friendship as complications aplenty arise.
The Valet is an adaptation of the 2006 French comedy of the same name by Francis Verber. Development began in 2014 with Eugenio Dubez slated to star and produce the film for Latin American aimed production house Pantelion Films whom the comedian had scored massive success with 2013's Instructions Not Included that served as something of a breakout(in the U. S.) for Dubez who although big in Mexico, had a less than ideal introduction to the United States with roles in the likes of Jack & Jill and Beverly Hills Chihuahua. The Valet fell into development limbo with Dubez prioritizing other projects like Overboard, Dora and the Lost City of Gold, or providing voices for the Spanish dubs of American films such as Secret Life of Pets or The Grinch. The film makes its debut on Hulu and surprising manages to retain the appeal of the French original, while also putting its own unique identity on the material.
The movie follows the key events of the original Verber film pretty closely with the impetus for the lie and various developments in the jealousy of characters like Isabel and Vincent that are parallel to developments in the French original without being complete 1:1 copies. While details have been changed such as the mistress now being an actress instead of a supermodel or the billionaire being a real estate developer instead of an industrial magnate, the movie maintains the original core premise of a simple down to earth guy whose life gets enveloped in an elaborate and contrived farce. Much like the French original, there's a sweetness to this movie I the main character played by Eugenio Derbez and his humility and goodness is nicely contrasted against the glamour and excess he's thrown into, Samara Weaving is really good as Oliva Allan and much like the original film the characters of Olivia and Antonio maintain a plutonic relationship of friendship rather than a romantic one. The movie is longer than the original film by about 40 minutes, and while an increase in runtime is usually not good for a comedy, the movie plays itself a bit differently from the zippy farce of the original film and instead makes itself more of a character based dramedy and refines loose ends of the original material. For example in the original film, the billionaire was dealing with striking factory workers who didn't really tie back into the main plot, and in this film the developer is gentrifying Antonio's neighborhood which creates a greater sense of audience investment in seeing him get his comeuppance. The movie also gives character expansion to Vincent's wife Kathryn as well as expanding upon Olivia's role and it makes the characters richer as a whole. I also liked the refinements they made to how the lie is ended and it's definitely an improvement from the final gag in the original film that hasn't aged particularly well in an otherwise good movie.
Deviating from the track record of American remakes of French comedies, the makers of The Valet manage to pull off an upset and produce a solid adaptation of the material that uses the same basic idea while also allowing its own mark to be placed on it. The movie features a strong ensemble of lovable characters and stands on its own apart from the original film. Key elements from the original story are kept while expanding or adding new material and I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked this movie.
The Valet is an adaptation of the 2006 French comedy of the same name by Francis Verber. Development began in 2014 with Eugenio Dubez slated to star and produce the film for Latin American aimed production house Pantelion Films whom the comedian had scored massive success with 2013's Instructions Not Included that served as something of a breakout(in the U. S.) for Dubez who although big in Mexico, had a less than ideal introduction to the United States with roles in the likes of Jack & Jill and Beverly Hills Chihuahua. The Valet fell into development limbo with Dubez prioritizing other projects like Overboard, Dora and the Lost City of Gold, or providing voices for the Spanish dubs of American films such as Secret Life of Pets or The Grinch. The film makes its debut on Hulu and surprising manages to retain the appeal of the French original, while also putting its own unique identity on the material.
The movie follows the key events of the original Verber film pretty closely with the impetus for the lie and various developments in the jealousy of characters like Isabel and Vincent that are parallel to developments in the French original without being complete 1:1 copies. While details have been changed such as the mistress now being an actress instead of a supermodel or the billionaire being a real estate developer instead of an industrial magnate, the movie maintains the original core premise of a simple down to earth guy whose life gets enveloped in an elaborate and contrived farce. Much like the French original, there's a sweetness to this movie I the main character played by Eugenio Derbez and his humility and goodness is nicely contrasted against the glamour and excess he's thrown into, Samara Weaving is really good as Oliva Allan and much like the original film the characters of Olivia and Antonio maintain a plutonic relationship of friendship rather than a romantic one. The movie is longer than the original film by about 40 minutes, and while an increase in runtime is usually not good for a comedy, the movie plays itself a bit differently from the zippy farce of the original film and instead makes itself more of a character based dramedy and refines loose ends of the original material. For example in the original film, the billionaire was dealing with striking factory workers who didn't really tie back into the main plot, and in this film the developer is gentrifying Antonio's neighborhood which creates a greater sense of audience investment in seeing him get his comeuppance. The movie also gives character expansion to Vincent's wife Kathryn as well as expanding upon Olivia's role and it makes the characters richer as a whole. I also liked the refinements they made to how the lie is ended and it's definitely an improvement from the final gag in the original film that hasn't aged particularly well in an otherwise good movie.
Deviating from the track record of American remakes of French comedies, the makers of The Valet manage to pull off an upset and produce a solid adaptation of the material that uses the same basic idea while also allowing its own mark to be placed on it. The movie features a strong ensemble of lovable characters and stands on its own apart from the original film. Key elements from the original story are kept while expanding or adding new material and I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked this movie.