So its a silly story, and when it started I saw it was 2 hours and I thought how can they make this story 2 hours, this will be a drag.... But it wasnt, its actually very good, its very well written and they have very cleverly used the combo of english and spanish to make it funny. The casting is excellent and the ending isnt ruining the movie. For the kind of movie it is, its actually one of the better in recent years.
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Wasn't expecting such solid writing from a story that's quite silly to start with, but I was pleasantly surprised. It definitely has more heart and depth than I thought it would. Definitely recommend if you're looking for a feel good film to escape to for a couple hours.
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TharsheyN22 May 2022The Valet is a comedy, romance that is parts funny, serious, happy, sad and all around enjoyable.
The storyline is good, it's well portrayed and doesn't get to crazy while also ensuring that it keeps you entertained.
The casting was absolutely amazingly done, Samara Weaving is beautiful and does a fantastic job at portraying Olivia Allan, our leading man Eugenio Derbez who plays Antonia as well as the supporting cast. They all fit in just right with their characters and together immerse you in the world the film makers have created for you.
This movie reminds me a lot of Marry Me, another film I enjoyed with a similar style of story, however the reason I cannot rate The Valet higher then a 8/10 is because I'm a hopeless romantic and I was rooting so hard throughout the movie for Olivia and Antonia to realize they're just perfect for one another. Unfortunately *Spoiler Alert* they remain just friends at the end of the film rather then ending up together like I thought and was hoping they would do.
Besides that little grievance I thoroughly enjoyed the film and can definitely recommend it for comedy/romance or Marry Me fans.
8/10 from me. The Valet is a solid, well done movie where I wouldn't have minded a sequel and I have my fingers crossed that they decide to do one. Maybe I'll get the ending I want and Olivia and Antonio will fall in love, realize their love and end up together. One can hope :) -
MovieIQTest22 May 2022This movie is what I think a really genuine COMEDY! Very enjoyable from the very beginning to the end. The screenplay is great, the casting is also a great job, directing, editing, soundtrack...all very good. I rarely have such enjoyable time watching a real comedy, because most of the time, those so-called comedies just turned out to be pure junk as well as certified FARCE. All the leading characters are well performed, all the supporting roles also doing a great job. The only actor who looks out of place is Joshua Vasquez, who played Marco, the son of the separated and finally divorced parents, obviously, is a very wrong cast. He doesn't look alike their parents, there's no possible gene link from their parents whatsoever, the face, the skin, even the hairs are absolutely impossible to inherit from his Latino parents.
This is a perfect comedy, it's even better than the French 2006 original movie, I love it! -
mikelpcl21 May 2022You won't laugh out loud with this comedy, but it will keep a smile on your face all the way through.
The male lead doens't match much (he is good, but I just do see him fit in this role), but the rest of the cast is real good at it.
No stridencies, formulaic story, a very very little bit of social criticism and lots of smile-inducing tender comedy. It doesn't intend to be Schindler's List, nor does it need to be it; it does exactly what it was mean to do.
Thumbs up. -
zfjvmfzd20 May 2022The movie is decent! Reading the plot before i start watching i was hoping it was not an other ...Canadian postcard movie (if you know what i mean)!
Thank God IT WAS NOT! Its really a good film!
Its so good that you will never feel sorry for your 2 hours! Actually, at the end you will feel like you wanted some more!
But the best of all, you will have that warm feeling in your heart, the one that guarantees a really goodnight sleep on your loving person's arm!
Well done!
Update: Just from curiosity i saw the original French movie La Doublure after that... Well it was not that heart moving. The plot is the same, just some minor differences, and is quite enjoyable too, but... There are no deep feelings inside! You can't connect with the heroes personalities and feel their sorrow or their happiness the same way that the American film does it! It is like the director is in a harry to end up the story!
So ... now for sure... its a 7 out of ten stars movie! -
Maxax77721 May 2022Okay, this was pleasant - it was cute, it has its funny moments - some clever moments - it's a little predictable but nonetheless it was a fun watch. We enjoyed - very nice, and original-ish show!
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TheRareReviewer20 May 2022There was nothing special about it, but just the usual on paper mismatch. But i think it showed well how the rich and famous dont have perfect lives same with the people who are working class. I laughed multiple times during this which i wasnt expecting. Overall i enjoyed the watch and would watch again.
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GabrielSymes28 May 2022I honestly thought this would be just another overly sweetened mess. Far from it. It was an enjoyable romp with some genuine laugh-out-loud moments. The story was fairly predictable, but who cares? This was a warm, enjoyable distraction and I'll watch it again.
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paul_haakonsen20 May 2022Now, I haven't seen the 2006 French movie "La Doublure" of which this 2022 comedy is a remake. So I can't say how much of a copy this 2022 version of the original movie.
However, I must admit that "The Valet" from writers Bob Fisher and Rob Greenberg was actually rather enjoyable. The storyline is good and well-written, and have elements of romance and comedy to it, and it works out quite nicely.
I was genuinely entertained by this movie, and director Richard Wong did deliver a wholesome and enjoyable movie.
I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in "The Valet", but they had some great talents to portray the various characters. Eugenio Derbez (playing Antonio) was really a nicely cast actor for the leading part, alongside with Samara Weaving (playing Olivia).
"The Valet" is a movie that has a good atmosphere to it and it makes you feel good, so thumbs up to director Richard Wong on that accomplishment. Lots of good comedy moments that made me have good, genuine laughs.
My rating of "The Valet" lands on a six out of ten stars. -
JackCowart348 November 2022Although The Valet markets itself as a romantic comedy, there isn't much comedy and hardly any romance. They could not have chosen a worse male lead, as Eugenio Derbez struggled to assimilate himself with this genre, and his constant awkward demeanor was a detriment to the watchability of the film. Samara Weaving, in contrast, is much too talented to be saddled with a script like this. She has obvious star power, as proven by Ready or Not (2019) and The Babysitter (2017), and I fully expect her career to go stratospheric in the coming years. The two leads exhibit little chemistry, which is why I'm presuming the filmmakers establish them as nothing more than friends. And, with the exception of a hilarious bit taking place in a restaurant about halfway through the film, most of the comedy was unfunny. This quality of movie is pretty much what I've come to expect when watching straight-to-streaming releases.
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paul-kline21 May 2022As a 37 year old man who can hardly stand most romantic comedies, I found this one to be very watchable, with a great story as well as solid acting from both main characters. I'd seen Weaving in Nine Perfect Strangers which I really enjoyed, but I'd never seen Derbez in anything but they both worked very well together and while this film might not make a load of money or get a lot of attention, it's one I'll gladly watch again. I know I'm a terrible reviewer, but let me just say to all the guys out there who are looking for a good hearted romantic comedy they can watch with their wife or girlfriend, this is a solid one that won't make you cringe, or immediately watch Saving Private Ryan afterward.
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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. -
giogerrard-9498211 July 2022It's a silly comedy with silly jokes. The main character has always played the same goofy guy with the same jokes and the same story of poor people getting famous or rich out of nowhere. It's very boring to watch the same story using the same 'actor' with some changes. The story itself is ridiculous, it seems like a soap opera and the main character is very bad at acting. Not a single laugh. Really, do not waste your time.
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masonsaul26 May 2022It's only sporadically funny and ties up one of its major narrative issues a little too quickly but The Valet still manages to continue the recent trend of unusually high quality American remakes of European films with a heartwarming romantic comedy that boasts surprising thematic depth and emotional heft.
Eugenio Debrez's innocent and shy persona works extremely well and he's able to do quite a lot without saying anything. He also has solid chemistry with Samara Weaving, whose self deprecating nature and exhausted energy is just as good.
Richard Wong's direction is good, the film is competently shot overall with the films within the film standing out the most. The soundtrack and music by Heitor Pereira is exactly what you expect from a romcom but it just proves why it works so well. -
tsroque21 May 2022Mexican "Mr Bean" Eugenio Derbez didn't disappoint! Such a cute movie and I'm glad I watched it. There are subtitles but you won't get lost if you don't follow along.
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Horror_Flick_Fanatic22 May 2022I do like Rom Coms with Eugenio Derbez. This one was okay, but not as good as his previous American films. If you are up for a light hearted romcom. This is okay.
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WatchAndSmile22 May 2022I enjoyed it. It is funny, good acting and story and while I don't enjoy subtitles and maybe there was a lot of Spanish to read at times, it was still good.
It's a movie that makes you smile while watching it and then makes you feel good after - something not often found in many movies. Good cast by all who did an amazing job. Samara, as always was great and I like her expressions. She needs to try maybe a role in a comedy playing an evil-crazy girl. With her charisma, she'd kill the role. -
Xstal3 June 2022An endearingly told tale about family and loyal friends, the ones that you will love until the absolute end of ends, those who help you park your problems, build great runways that they extend, involved in all of life's precious moments with unsurpassed, kind, dividends.
A wonderful piece of sincerity transcribed into film. -
thomas-ero22 May 2022Doesn't look like a winner at first glance. I wouldn't have watched this movie if not for some of the comments here recommending it. But I am glad I did! Very warm, funny and interesting, with a lot of attention paid to characters and dialogue. I really enjoyed it and found myself caring for the characters more and more as the movie went on. Give it a try.
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... if you've seen the French version from which this got copied.. just watching the trailer of this 2022 version, you can tell how awful it is by comparison... not even close.
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thandi-lamprecht20 May 2022If you're sick of dark, depressing and cynical movies - watch this. It's funny, sweet, happy, light and cheerful. There should be more movies like this. Enjoy!
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The leading actor ( from batteries not included ) Is the reason I gave the movie a shot. It was actually really enjoyable to watch, especially on a Friday night after a long week of work. The mom was really funny! She had me laughing in her every scene. Overall I thought the movie had a lot of nice emotions.
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horrorfaninusa19 June 2022I really wanted to like this movie. I'm always up for a feel good comedy and I like Samara's acting as well as her energy. However, there was not really much she could do, given the depth of the character in the script. I'm surprised she even took this role. Her character is so cliche and one dimensional that it brings nothing new to the table.
Male lead's interesting physical features, his maturity also takes away from the movie by a lot. In a typical rom com you heart for the characters to unite however, I was creeped out in this movie to be honest. The guy looks as old as her dad which makes it impossible for an on screen chemistry to brew.
But that's not the major issue with this movie. The main problem is that the world it builds isn't believable one bit. Their lives are too exaggerated, so such so that it feels like they were living in a fairy tale. Everybody is happy, all is good except Samara's life.
Also, it takes away from believability when you throw logic out the window just to make a character suffer. I got really annoyed when the main guy was constantly stuck in the city if his bike was unoperable like he couldn't even afford anything but a public bus or rideshare services never existed.
That being said, there were a few funny moments which were not enough to save this meaningless production. If you like to watch a rom com that feels like it was written by a nine year old, then go ahead and watch it.
But if intelligence is a must for you, I'd say get your popcorn and fire up one of your old dvds to watch a great rom com classic such as When Harry Met Sally or maybe Notting Hill. At least you won't feel sorry for wasting precious ninety minutes of your time. -
doujyr21 May 2022Forced to watch it but actually enjoyed it! Some really good performaces, script, dialogue. My one reservation is that, as usual, the adulterous male gets his comeuppance but the female adulterer doesn't.