Nice Girls 2024 Movie Review
In the 90s I had a colleague who sometimes talked about how he didn’t like French comedies, he didn’t understand them. I thought of him when I saw Noémie Saglio’s new film NICE GIRLS.
Of course there are French comedies and French comedians I like, for example I have a soft spot for Louis de Funès. But – often French comedies can be a bit… weird. I guess this is due to cultural differences. The French laugh out loud and I wonder what they’re laughing at, or I understand what they’re laughing at, but I don’t think it’s particularly funny.
In NICE GIRLS it is always obvious what is meant to be funny – but the humor only works sometimes. I have a hard time putting my finger on what it is that makes it not quite work.
Alice Taglioni plays the policeman Léo, who calls himself the Riviera’s best cop. However, she gives a strange impression, she is messy, she chain smokes and wears some kind of beppe hat. Her brother Ludo has been murdered in Germany and a German policeman is sent to Nice to solve the case. The German police officer turns out to be the gorgeous Mélanie (Stéfi Celma), who speaks fluent French without an accent – she claims it’s because her mother was French.
Léo immediately dislikes Mélanie. It soon turns out that Mélanie was Ludo’s fiancee, they were going to get married. Of course, Léo and Mélanie have to work together when the gang that killed Ludo shows up in Nice, led by a psychopathic English blonde played by Katrina Durden, who is a very bad actress. Mélanie turns out to be a badass at fighting. Léo mostly flounders around and fusses. She falls in love with a guy who is forced to help the two police officers.
So I don’t think NICE GIRLS is particularly funny. Alice Taglioni goes to great lengths to make her strange character fun, but she becomes most annoying in her weirdness. Also, the plot is a bit confused, it feels like parts of the movie are missing. Things just happen all of a sudden. Villains appear. There will be action. The villains are after something.
But I still think there is something a little likeable about this film. If nothing else, it wins on its environments. Nice shows itself from its sunniest side and looks extremely attractive. It’s been a long time since I was there. The film made me long for the Riviera and Provence.
NICE GIRLS is an icy film in icy environments with an icy cinematography. Everyone dances at the end. The grade below is a bit dubious. I’m probably too nice – but I let myself be seduced by the Riviera. It’s easily happened.
