While watching
Luc Besson’s comedy
“Angel-A,” in which a leggy blond angel descends from on high to save the soul of a petty criminal who barely comes up to her shoulders, I had an unpleasant thought: if Hollywood got its hands on the story,
Uma Thurman and
Danny DeVito would be cast as the odd couple. Not much charm there. Or worse:
Daryl Hannah and Pauly Shore.
But Rie Rasmussen and
Jamel Debbouze, the stars who portray Angela, the celestial therapist, and André, her star patient, display enough screwball romantic charm to keep this sugary trifle afloat longer than you’d expect. Beneath its sophisticated Gallic gloss, the movie, which shamelessly recycles
“It’s a Wonderful Life” and
“Heaven Can Wait,” suggests an episode of “Touched by an Angel” without the tears.
Ms. Rasmussen, the Danish goddess familiar from
Brian De Palma’s
“Femme Fatale,” has a larger-than-life screen presence from which you can hardly avert your eyes. She radiates madcap mischief, blasé hauteur and erotic mystery in equal measure. Handsome and scruffy with brown puppy-dog eyes, Mr. Debbouze is best remembered by American audiences from the overrated Gallic bonbon “Amélie.”
“Angel-A,” filmed in ravishing black and white by Mr. Besson’s regular cinematographer, Thierry Arbogast, is a valentine to the City of Light, even more visually seductive than “Amélie” or the recent
“Paris Je T’Aime.” In a scene where a loan shark’s goons dangle André, kicking and pleading for mercy, off the girders of the Eiffel Tower, the Parisian vistas below are so inviting that you wonder if being dropped into this scenery might not be such a bad way to go.
André is a Moroccan-born American citizen (through the green-card lottery) who lives in Paris and is 40,000 euros in debt. He is given a very short deadline to raise the money, which he squandered on a failed business opportunity in Argentina. In despair, he visits one of Paris’s prettiest bridges, prepared to throw himself into the Seine. But as he is about to make the leap, the beautiful blonde on the next ledge jumps first. Instead of taking his own life, he saves hers.
Very early on it becomes apparent that Angela is not of this world. Her belated confession that she is an angel who has no memory of her former earthly identity comes as no surprise. For much of the rest of the movie, she tows André from gambling parlors to dance halls as she secures the money he needs, chain-smoking all the way. Angela is violent without hurting people. In a half-second whirl, she can spin around and leave a gang of thugs unconscious. An irresistible seductress, she can turn tricks all night long and look as if she just awoke from a refreshing beauty sleep.
Along the way she gives André impatient pep talks about self-esteem and his inner goodness. She teaches him to look into a mirror and say “I love you.” As André learns to like himself, he falls madly in love with Angela, who harbors her own secret sadness. But how does she really feel about him?
If you have to know and can’t guess already, then see “Angel-A.” It won’t hurt you, and it’s easy on the eyes.
“Angel-A” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian) for language and some sexual content.
I don't really see the resemblance though.
, "haha like i will ever meet her"...
