Movie Review by Nigel A. Messenger
Starring: Piper Perabo, Jane McGregor, Trent Ford, Michael McKean, Julie White
Director: Melanie Mayron
A high school comedy set in ‘small town’ Texas, USA where a beautiful and bright girl’s life revolves around being head cheerleader, going out with the captain of the football team and winning the local talent contests.
The gorgeous blonde in question is Starla (Jane McGregor) and in her senior year she’s looking forward to winning a college scholarship in yet another contest and a future as a TV presenter on network TV.
Starla is the most popular girl in school, it seems she always has been and in her latest scheme to win something she generously arranges for a French foreign exchange student to come and live with her family and to attend her school.
Enter Genevieve (Piper Perabo) quiet, unassuming and apparently eager to impress everyone. Starla befriends her but after Genevieve accidentally ends up on the front page of the school newspaper instead of Starla it soon becomes apparent that Genevieve is out to capture Starla’s popularity; win the scholarship and destroy Starla by framing her into looking like an unstable drug addict.
SLAP HER, SHE’S FRENCH! is quite a funny and fairly original approach to the high school comedy continuing the small town observations of DROP DEAD GORGEOUS with the more usual aspects of the high school genre.
As usual in ‘teen’ genre movies and television all the high school students look twenty-something but this age anomaly has been long since accepted so doesn’t spoil the enjoyment of the movie.
What does seem strange however is that Piper Perabo is credited first in the film because although she has a substantial role she is the ‘French’ girl, which she portrays well, it’s very much Jane McGregor’s movie as she not only has the lead role but she really shines on screen.
Screen credits aside SLAP HER, SHE’S FRENCH! not only has an amusing title, it eats up it’s hour and a half of screen time in a very entertaining way.
