To the untrained eye; Slap Her, She's French is just another pointless teen comedy (albeit it, one with a title that is more snappy than most), but to the more astute eye; this film is a metaphor for the current state of international affairs. A portrait of the western world and it's relationship with it's eastern counterparts. Of course, it's a metaphor that is saturated with make-up, shoes, cheerleaders and shallow people in general; but you have to admire the imagination and astuteness of this film's observations.
The main character of Starla Grady, played to perfection by the sublime Jane McGregor is a hollow cheerleader from Texas. An all-American girl; She rules the roost, talks with a funny accent and comes across as being rather stupid. Remind you of anyone? A certain...American politician, perhaps? Of course, Starla Grady is much more attractive than George Bush, but the comparisons between the two are too obvious to ignore. Starla's opposite number is Genevieve LePlouff; a French exchange student, played by Piper Perabo, a young lady whom you hopefully wont remember from Coyote Ugly. Genevieve is the quintessential French person, or at least the quintessential American idea of what French people are like. She's primitive; impressed by everything "American". This is a metaphor for American values...America is so much better than France (not to mention everywhere else), don't you know? This is also linked to the Iraq war as France obviously opposed it, which has lead to French Fries having their name changed to Freedom Fries, among other such childish activities. The title is metaphoric too.... she's French, let's slap her! The comparisons between world politics and raunchy teen comedy don't end at the main characters either. Starla's younger brother, Randolph is a walking dictionary. He helps Starla out when she's in a tight spot later on in the film. Where do we know him from? That's right, he's America's younger brother, the nation of walking dictionaries...Great Britain! Even the underlying lesbian tones coming from Starla's friends can be seen as...oh wait, let's just forget about that.
The film is about as funny as your average teen comedy. The storyline, however, is slightly above average. It follows the story of the aforementioned Starla Grady; the most popular girl in school, who agrees to take a French exchange student on in order to win a competition (somebody else played the 'god card', if you're wondering why she didn't just do that). This taking on a French student is also very "American"...look at us, we HELP nations. However, to our heroine's surprise, this Frenchie is not all frog legs and beret caps; she's secretly evil...I didn't see that one coming! This is indicative of the backlash of the Iraq war, and also provides the film with some of it's best laughs. Seeing Starla in jail is priceless...actually it isn't, but it is sort of amusing.
On the surface, this movie is silly and forgettable; but if you look past the facade of innocence and stupidity, what we have here is a very deep and complex masterpiece that is indicative of the time it was made in. Slap Her, She's French is a mind game, it will play with you and it will make you think. Few movies have this kind of vision and still manage to be funny and accessible at the same time. A modern classic.
.... Or maybe it's just a silly teen comedy.
1 out of 8 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink