Reviews & Ratings for
Golden Boy More at IMDbPro »

Wow all the hate?!, 12 August 2012

Author: planktonrules from Bradenton, Florida

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Currently, "Golden Boy" has an IMDb score of 3.8--making it about as beloved as Ebola or Scabies. In addition, the two reviews now listed on IMDb truly hate the film. My question about this is, from where does all this hate arise? All I saw was a clever little film that was kind of fun--not a festering pile of yecch! Jacques Villeret plays a nice guy who is the union representative at the doll factory where he works. He seems to be constantly at odds with boss and it's a nice microcosm of the relationship between the French workers and management. However, in a weird twist you'll only see in films, Villeret and his wife win the lottery and suddenly their socialist views are called into question. After all, now THEY are rich--and exactly the sort of folks they used to despise.

When the company where Villeret works appears to be ready to go belly up, things get very weird. He decides to rescue the company from bankruptcy and now becomes the boss--a boss who soon starts to think like a boss. A boss who suddenly finds himself at odds with the unions. It gets even more convoluted when the Russians come to make an offer on the company--provided there aren't any communist trouble-makers working there! But this isn't the end to how convoluted things become, as soon Villeret has bungled everything. Who will come to the company's rescue this time (hint: it's not the Russians)? So why all the hate? Perhaps some folks didn't appreciate the message that seemed to make fun of BOTH sides. Perhaps they didn't like showing socialists or capitalists in a positive or negative light. Perhaps the message hit too close to home. All I know is that I thought the film was quite cute, clever and well worth seeing. Yes, apparently I am crazy, as I DID like this 'bad' film.

1 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Why did we tell Jacques Villeret that he'd be the golden boy?, 21 December 2003

Author: dbdumonteil

A film whose topic is one of the western society's major problems: unemployment, "Golden Boy" evokes the French populist cinema of the thirties. Moreover, several sides of the story show that the movie is very influenced by Frank Capra's works. Unfortunately Jean-Pierre Vergne's movie can't hold a candle to any of Capra's movies.

The three most obvious adjectives to qualify this movie are: labored, dull and above all flat. The movie exudes a nice and harmless comic but it seriously lacks of cutting. Then, a nonexistent and listless directing, several hackneyed or predictable situations, a poor script don't help matters. All these factors can explain the commercial and critical failure of this movie when it was released in 1996.

At last, even Jacques Villeret who is however one of the finest comic actors that French cinema gave us can't save this firm (you said it) from mediocrity.

0 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
A botching, 26 August 1999

Author: BESSIERE Frédéric (owe@club-internet.fr) from Béziers, France

This movie is a very very bad comedy. The screenplay is idiotic, actors are not funny and the director is incompetent. So, his failure was understandable and deserved. Don't see this film, you'll lose your time !

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