Angel-A review

Luc Besson has been one of France's most commercially successful directors of the last twenty years, with hits such as The Big Blue, Nikita, Leon and The Fifth Element to his name. However, he has come a cropper with his latest work. Angel-A is a trite, juvenile and tedious affair, and represents the director's worst outing by a country mile.

In a plot that steals from It's A Wonderful Life, Wings of Desire and just about any other film that has angels coming to earth to save desperate citizens, Besson's paper-thin story focuses on the relationship between Andre (Jamel Debbouze) and Angel-A (Rie Rasmussen), the former a low-life hustler who finds himself down on his luck and owing euros to gangsters on both sides of the Seine, and the latter his angel who comes to save him when he decides to make a fatal leap from a bridge.

Once she has saved his life, Angel-A (whose name is as contrived as the film itself), proceeds to get Andre back on track by providing him with the necessary means to pay off his creditors. The two become closer as they spend more time together leading to a will they/won't they finale.

There's very little here in terms of drama or tension to sustain much interest over the slim 90 minute running time. Besson claims to have written the script over a two-week period in 1994, but one can only wonder what took him that long. Dialogue and plot are carelessly handled, and his evident infatuation with the striking-looking Rasmussen soon tires.

Given little in terms of meat to get their teeth into, both leading actors flounder, although Debbouze's natural charm as a comic does help him through some difficult scenes. Rasmussen, however, making her screen debut, seems an odd choice, and one which never really convinces as the angel. Despite the occasional thrilling shot of Paris - the least you would expect from someone like Besson - this is very disappointing fare.

Paul Hurley