Radiostars (2012)
Directed by Romain Lévy

Film Review

Having scripted a number of fairly mediocre comedies, including David Charhon's Cyprien (2009), Romain Lévy makes a promising directorial debut with this feisty feel-good collation of road movie and buddy movie, which stands a good chance of being one of the most memorable mainstream French comedies of 2012.  Whilst the influences are all too easily spotted - from  Richard Curtis's The Boat That Rocked (2009) to Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous (2000) - and the clichés are as bountiful as slugs on a wet spring day, the film manages to get by on the sheer energy and enthusiasm that Lévy and his likeable band of lead actors bring to it.  Lévy has clearly set his sights on being France's answer to Judd Apatow, and judging by his first enjoyable romp, he stands a pretty good chance of realising that ambition.

Lévy has made no secret of the fact that Radiostars is an autobiographical piece, which draws on his own experiences of working for a small radio station in the company of Mathieu Oullion and Manu Payet, who  became firm friends of his and contribute to the film as screenwriter and actor respectively.  Because of this, the film not only roars with zest and colour, it is also startlingly true to life, and this helps to make up for its many technical and scripted shortcomings.  The characters may not be as well developed as they might have been had a little more care been lavished on the script, but they are sympathetically played and easy to engage with.  Clovis Cornillac is particularly hilarious as a self-loving microphone hogger who is so enamoured of the sound of his own voice you wonder how he can ever bear to shut his mouth (how many radio presenters does that remind you of?).  Radiostars is definitely not the most sophisticated of French comedies, and it makes no attempt to disguise the fact that it is targeted at the home youth market, but if zany, verbose, pop-themed humour is your thing it is definitely on the right wavelength.

Film Synopsis

After a series of emotional and professional setbacks in New York, aspiring comic Ben returns to Paris, where he meets Alex, a star presenter on a radio breakfast show.  Ben makes such an impression on Alex and his cohorts, Cyril and Arnold, that he is soon hired to write material for them.  But no sooner has Ben managed to get his feet back on the ground than disaster strikes: for some reason the radio show's audience figures have taken a nosedive.  To win back their audience, the four friends set out on a radiophonic road trip that will shatter their certainties about themselves...