A toothless and ridiculous imitation of the Coens and Allen only elicits a disgruntled grimace. A weak story, unpleasant characters, and a comedic death knell: the absence of humor. We don’t need this kind of Paris.
Quinn, a shy young musician, has been hesitant for years to propose to his girlfriend Devon, whom he’s been dating since school. The decision that has finally matured in the young man’s head suddenly encounters an insurmountable obstacle – Quinn’s colleague at work confesses her love for him, a girl much more attractive than Devon. Caught in the vise of new doubts, Quinn begins to make mistake after mistake, which leads to Devon’s departure for Paris. Now the young man needs to make a final choice and win back his long-time love from a competitor who has suddenly appeared on the horizon.
Helberg and Lynskey both participate in the filming of series created by Chuck Lorre. Simon in “The Big Bang Theory”, and Melanie in “Two and a Half Men”.
Casting aside thoughts of worldwide popularity, exorbitant fees, and decent work, actors who have been involved in the same TV show for many years can only be sympathized with – each of their works outside the bars of the cage where they are driven by a contract with the TV channel becomes a test many times more difficult than for any other actor. Remember how George Clooney had to fend off the trail of “ER”, see how much effort Bryan Cranston is now making to distance himself from “Breaking Bad”, appreciate what a turn Hugh Laurie’s career made after parting with the white coat of “House, M.D.”. The artists involved in “The Big Bang Theory” are also now hostages of images that have been carefully built over the past eight years. Whether there is life outside of “TBBT” is occasionally checked by Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco, and even Melissa Rauch. Now it’s time for Simon “Howard” Helberg to make a name for himself.
For Helberg, “Paris” became his directorial debut, while his wife Jocelyn Towne is already filming her second film. Her first was the drama “I Am I”, in which Simon, by the way, played the main role.
It’s not that Helberg hadn’t poked his nose out of the famous series before; he’d flashed quite a bit in big movies. But now Simon has taken on a much more complex and delicate job and, it seems, has made a big mistake. The main problem of the film, where one person acts as a screenwriter, director, and leading actor, is that not everyone can bear the huge burden of responsibility on their shoulders. There may simply not be enough talent for everything, and there is no one to lean on – and Helberg found himself in just such a situation. Yes, his wife Jocelyn Towne replaced him in the director’s chair, yes, Melanie Lynskey provided invaluable support to Simon on the set, yes, the background in the film is assembled only to illuminate the star of the main character with its brilliance – but all this turns the work into torment, because Helberg simply cannot pull the whole project on himself.
Script Issues
Trouble awaited “We’ll Never See Paris” even at the script stage. Alas, no matter how Helberg and Towne advertised that the story was written based on real events in their lives, a small adventure with infidelity and apologies is not yet a plot for a film. In order to somehow unwind the substrate, which fits on a couple of pages, the script is overgrown with unnecessary details, aimless branches, and the introduction of characters that are completely alien to the plot. Script weakness very quickly causes fatigue from viewing, especially since Helberg does not captivate as a director at all – the development of the main characters stalls, their characters and motives for actions remain undisclosed, and the actions are illogical.
Lack of Humor
At some point, the thought arises that the author has gone down the path of absurdity, that he wants to create a grotesque world, with exaggerated problems and hypertrophied emotions, but “We’ll Never See Paris” is too serious for absurdity. Serious to the point of disgust. Disgusting is generally the best adjective to describe most of the components of the film. The main character is disgusting, a self-absorbed whining fool, his adventures are disgusting, in which snobbery coexists with vulgarity, even the final moral is disgusting, which is that you can, it turns out, do any outrage behind the back of a loved one, and then beg for forgiveness, just crawling on your knees and smearing snot on your cheeks.
And it would be okay if something from the described was at least a little funny, no, the humor of the film does not work at all. Helberg desperately does not want to be similar to the hero of “The Big Bang Theory” in the new image, and this makes their similarity even more striking. Molina and Quinto, who periodically appear in the frame, look like stylistically alien organisms. Only Maggie Grace looks really funny in the film, but her presence in this film looks as strange as if Nick Swardson appeared in a Woody Allen film with his grimaces.
Conclusion
There is nothing sadder than an unfunny comedy, especially when the potential of its creators is clear and in total represents a value much greater than the final result. Helberg really can’t see “Paris” yet, but there is a possibility that he will work on the mistakes and in his subsequent films will not take on impossible tasks, but will promote his career with a calm step, without tearing his pants with such “jumps”.