Monsieur Papa (2011)

Marius, 12, has not seen his father for years and he misses him badly. Marie, his mother, a workaholic firm manager, knows that she will never reconcile with her ex-husband. She must do ... See full summary »

Director:

Kad Merad

Writers:

Luc Chaumar, Emmanuelle Cosso (dialogue),

Stars:

Michèle Laroque, Kad Merad, Vincent Perez

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michèle Laroque	...	Marie Vallois
Kad Merad	...	Robert Pique
Vincent Perez	...	Jean-Laurent
Judith El Zein	...	Sonia
Gaspard Meier	...	Marius Vallois (as Gaspard Meier-Chaurand)
Florence Maury	...	Chloé
Emmanuel Patron	...	Kléber, l'amant de Marie
Patrick Bonnel	...	Patrick
Myriam Boyer	...	Suzy Benchetrit
Yujuan Li	...	Lise
Christophe Kourotchkine	...	Fred
Lucie Laurier	...	Corinne
Randiane Naly	...	Nadia
Francis Renaud	...	Le vigile #1
Pierre Laplace	...	Le vigile #2

Storyline

Marius, 12, has not seen his father for years and he misses him badly. Marie, his mother, a workaholic firm manager, knows that she will never reconcile with her ex-husband. She must do something to address her son's frustration but what to do ? She finally has the preposterous idea to hire Robert Pique, an unemployed man, to play the role of Marius's father. His job will consist in putting the boy off his alleged dad. Of course, the scheme sucks and nothing will go according to plan...

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Official Sites:

Pathé Distribution [fr]

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

1 June 2011 (France)

Also Known As:

Sr. Papá

Filming Locations:

Arrêt d'autobus Friedland-Haussmann, Paris 8, Paris, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pathé, Arcadia, Eskwad

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

French visa # 123905.

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Soundtracks

"L'Internationale"
Lyrics by Eugène Pottier (1871)
Music by Pierre Degeyter (1888)

User Reviews

Just ... OK!

I was looking forward that film for two reason , the first is that I am a sucker for family film with a big heart and the second reason is that I like Kad Merad , he his in my opinion one of the most charming, likable working actor in France today. I finally got to see this film and all I can say is that I am a bit underwhelmed. The story is simple ,Marie Vallois (Michèle Laroque) his a business woman who have a hard time to keep her son out of trouble lately.Most of the trouble 12 year old Marius (Gaspard Meier) is getting into are directly related to the fact that the boy do not know his father (A call for help you might say) , the only thing he knows about him his what his mother told him, that he his an explorer who left them to...basically explore the world. As Marius grades at school go down and he start chatting up strangers on the internet claiming that they are his dad , Marie face a dilemma , either tell Marius the truth about his father or hire a man,Robert pique (Kad Merad) who was recently fired from the company she works at to pretend that he his the boy's father...and guess what Marie decided to do? In all fairness it's really hard to dislike the film because it has its heart at the right place but it is impossible to love either because it falls flat in terms of humor and character development. The biggest problem is the relationship between Marius and Robert...We do not buy it. This story demanded that we root for that friendship between this little boy and his make believe that but unfortunately when it comes to Robert Pique , we don't have any scene that really shows that Robert actually really care for Marius in a fatherly sort of way , sure he play sport with him and helps him with his homework but we nearly feel that he his doing so just because he his paid for it.The end of the film tells us otherwise and we are asked to believe that those two have a very strong bond....but we do not see it throughout the film! They are no strong development to be seen between those two characters and that is a big issue coming from a film called "Mister dad". The actors are likable , young Gaspard Meier does a great job with the material he has in this film. Michèle Laroque is endearing enough as the mother but this has to be Kad Merad weakest performance , he uses none of the great comic timing he his known for and his character who is front and centre in this film feels flat and unfortunately this brings the entire film down. I was not bored once but it's not the sort of film that makes me want to revisit it. It needed a stronger script , a lot more humor injected to it and a more interesting central performance. I really wanted to love that film but I just ended up thinking it was a passable effort with likable actors. 4 out of 10