An American Werewolf in Paris (1997)
Director: Anthony Waller Cast: Tom Everett Scott, Julie Delpy, Vince Veluf, Phil Buckman, Julie Bowen, Pierre Cosso Rated R: Violence, gore, nudity
by Nathaniel R. Atcheson (nate@pyramid.net)
Here's a note for any film maker intending to include a scene in which characters bungee jump from the Eiffel Tower: the tower itself is not composed of straight, vertical lines. The support beams curve away from the center closer to the bottom, so anything that falls off the top is likely to smash into the side of the tower no later than halfway through the fall. So, in effect, people bungee jumping from the top will not reach the ground until they collide with many steel girders, bouncing their way down, down, down, until they reach the bottom as a dead lump.
The characters in An American Werewolf in Paris didn't have this problem--they found an alternate version of the Eiffel Tower, which represents more closely the Washington Monument, so they were not only able to avoid hitting the side of the tower, but to clear every bit of the building itself and land safely in the grass clearing hundreds of feet away. I bet that Andy (Tom Everett Scott) didn't realize how his life would change when he selflessly leaped from the top of the tower in order to save a beautiful girl (Julie Delpy) attempting suicide. Of course he saves her, in a stunt that makes every Schwarzenegger film look realistic, and sets her on the ground, only to collide with a girder on the way up (I suppose some points may be given for understanding that there are, in fact, girders on the Eiffel Tower).
The girl's name is Serafine, and she is a werewolf. Andy and his friends find this out the hard way. When Andy becomes a werewolf himself, he uncovers a plot in which a group of nihilistic werewolves trap unknowing Americans and kill them. Their ultimate goal is to turn the entire world into werewolves; Andy, with the help of Serafine, must stop him at all costs! But only after he comes to terms with the fact that he is a werewolf, and that the woman he loves is also a werewolf.
Most horror films set up rules and guidelines by which the characters act and ultimately destroy the evil bad guys. There are no such rules in this film. I was under the impression that only silver bullets could kill werewolves, but here they seem rather weak (many of them die by multiple gunshots from a standard hand gun). Aside from the concept not following what I know about werewolves, nothing else in the film seems to be guided by any laws or rules.
Take, for example, the Eiffel Tower bungee-jumping scene, which is later upstaged by a Statue of Liberty bungee-jumping scene. There are also tasteless moments in which Andy talks to ghosts. (These ghosts are unique--they are the victims of werewolves, complete with the original bloody wounds; they are damned to walk the earth until the werewolves that have taken their lives die.) The entire idea behind the ghosts is unfounded and absolutely pointless. The film also includes those irritatingly dumb scenes in which Andy's friends try and get him ready for a big date with Serafine by telling him what to wear and what to say.
All of this adds up to one big problem: in a film that lacks even a hint of realism, it is impossible to care, or even get excited, about the characters and the situation. There was not a doubt in my mind that everything would be okay, not because it's a typical horror film and everything is always okay, but because I knew the characters could just cast an "Everything is Okay!" spell and everything would be okay. A situation that appears to be certain death provides an escape when the floor falls out from underneath a character for no particular reason. Don't ask why Serafine loses all self-control when she turns into a werewolf, and why the other werewolves seem completely aware of themselves and others. Certainly don't question the pseudo-science in which the bad werewolves synthesize a drug which can induce the werewolf effects at any time during the day (which has a laughable, "scientific" explanation having something to do with the moon cycles).
As bad as this film is, I have to admit that it's not without guilty pleasures. Director Anthony Waller should get someone to give him a real script, because he could probably do some interesting things. And the acting is rather entertaining, especially from Scott. There are also a few really funny moments, and I actually liked the CG werewolves (they don't look too cartoony). If you love werewolf or horror films, then you might like this silly film. I'm not a big fan of either one, but I can't say I wasted my money here. It's a bad film, yes, but it's charming in a tasteless, lawless manor. I didn't like it, but I sat through it, and I can't say I was disappointed. I got what I expected after seeing the preview.
>From 0-10: 4 Grade: D+
Visit FILM PSYCHOSIS at http://www.pyramid.net/natesmovies
Nathaniel R. Atcheson
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews