Priceless / Hors de prix

Rating: PG-13

Movie Release Date: December 13, 2003 (France) / March 28, 2008 (USA)

DVD Release Date: November 18, 2008

Plot 411: A con woman mistakes a hotel worker as a rich guy and he becomes her next con.

Review: Audrey Tautou plays Irene, a woman whose one desire in life is to marry into money. To this end, she cons rich, old men into buying her clothes and gems and taking her to nice places. She meets Jean (Gad Elmaleh), a hotel jack-of-all-trades, and mistakens him for another hotel guest. After many drinks, they head up to a luxurious suite and spend the night. By this time, Jean is completely infatuated with Irene. She, on the other hand, brushes him off without a parting glance. After a similar experience a year later, they are caught in bed by the hotel staff and Jean's ruse is unveiled. Irene storms out believing she has wasted her precious time on a man with no money. Jean tries his best to apologize and she really makes it worth her while. When Jean is left with an exorbitant hotel bill, he must resort to a con himself to pay it off. Tautou looks stunning in this film, especially dressed in expensive clothes and jewelry. She's like a modern-day Audrey Hepburn with her petite stature and delicate features. She is also exceptional as Irene and able to convey a sweetness despite her appetite for the superficial. There are points in the film when she is utterly cruel to Jean and you wonder whether or not she has a beating heart within her. Yet you still have empathy for her character because you know she's just trying to survive. Elmaleh is hilarious as this fish-out-of-water character. He's just a normal guy who has been swept up into the upper echelon of society and can barely tread water to keep afloat. The movie is definitely funny, but it is carried out in a subtle way that we rarely see in American films.

Watch It: To witness just how far a guy will go to impress a girl. It would be obsurdly pathetic if he didn't love her so much.

Skip It: If you'd like to read less subtitles and catch a similarly themed American movie starring Jennifer Love Hewitt and Sigourney Weaver called Heartbreakers. However, of the two, I prefer Priceless.