LOL (Laughing Out Loud) ® (2008)

I don't wish to spoil this for anyone else - I read another review which said he'd seen Sophie in Braveheart and he wished this movie "Lol" had English subtitles. In Australia SBS shows all the foreign "non-English" films with subtitles.

If you are after a mother / daughter problems / boyfriends story with a happy ending . . . go for it. There were some interesting story lines and subplots of relationships.

Sophie was 42 when this movie was made. She was 29 when she played a French princess in the 14th century Scottish / English historical tale with Mel Gibson. I also preferred her part in the movie "Anthony Zimmer" a suspense French police / Russian mafia drama.

Fmovies: There's nothing revolutionary here, but LOL is a good-natured teen angst flick with a tender heart, snappy dialog and some hilariously awkward moments (especially during a trip to the weird, exotic land of... England). Most first-worlders will connect with one or more of those characters- teenagers or adults- who are much like us, fumbling their way through life while fumbling with some gadget or other. The only difference is that these men do it much more stylistically, and in Paris

Ever since seeing her in Braveheart I have been a fan of Sophie Marceau and so it was with some disappointment that I recently received a copy of this film without subtitles. Subsequent enquiries as to whether English subtitles were available proved fruitless as it would appear that no subtitled copy of this film was ever produced. I find it totally mystifying, given the parlous state of the French film industry, that a film studio would not consider it worthwhile distributing this film in the English-speaking world given the international standing of Miss Marceau. How much can it cost to put on subtitles? Can't vote - haven't seen the film. Would like to! I would understand if you don't include this entry.

LOL (Laughing Out Loud) ® fmovies. This French movie was recently re-made by director Azuelos as a Hollywood movie starring Miley Cyrus. Now if I were to suffer a heart attack while watching TV on my couch and I knew a Miley Cyrus movie was coming on later, I'd change the channel, even before calling 911, just so I was not literally found dead watching it. THIS French version appealed to me, however, first because I'm long-time fan of Sophie Marceasu. Few Americans probably remember that Marceau, when she herself was a young teen in the 80's, got her start in a movie called "La Boum" (which many of us saw in French class), which was somewhat similar to this. This film is a little more racy in its content (but certainly not very explicit), not because French teen mores have probably changed that much since the 80's, but because this movie focuses on somewhat older teens than "La Boum" did (sixteen-year-olds rather than thirteen-year-olds) and casual teen sex and drug use is taken more as a given. Marceau gets to play the mother of the teen this time, and what apparently HASN'T changed is that the parents of teens in French movies are far more attractive than they probably are in real-life and are way too self-involved in their own sex lives (Marceau's character is torn between her ex-husband and a new affair with dope-smoking narcotics officer) to be very effective parents. There's no doubt SOME truth in that though.

I first saw the actress who plays the daughter, Christa Theret, in a small but very sexy role in the recent art film "Clink of Ice" where she plays the dying protagonist's younger mistress. The actress herself is quite young though and was still a teen herself when she tackled this role. Her various boyfriends, however, all look to be twenty-something male models and dress like members of The Cure circa 1985 while listening to the Rolling Stones circa 1970 (while I'm sure most real-life French teens probably listen to the same Justin Beiberesque crap all teens generally seem to these days). Her main boyfriend, "Mael", has his own problems with an overbearing father who considers his schooling more important than the (actually pretty good)band he plays in.

There are several annoying things in this movie besides the adults being a little too vapid to be sympathetic and some of the teens being to mature-looking to be believable. I don't think even in France teens drug their sympathetic yet dimwitted grandmothers so they can have a party in their house (nor should such a thing probably be encouraged). And the gang all travels to England at one point, and their Brit hosts are all portrayed as unattractive and incredibly stupid--they can't tell they're being insulted in French and they allow one boy-girl couple to spend the night together after they claim to be long-lost cousins. Oh yeah, then there's the strange scene (prominently featured in the trailer) where Marceau and Theret take a bath together (but don't get too excited because they don't actually show anything).

This is no great shakes, but I'm confident it's vastly preferable to the American re-make (not that I'LL ever know. . .). Not worth seeking out perhaps, but worth seeing if it's ever released outside of France.