Next, please!

Are there really such things as curses, or do they perhaps only occur when you firmly believe in them and try tensely to avoid them? It doesn't really matter, because the fact is that for over a hundred years, all the first marriages in Isabelle's (Diane Kruger) family have failed and it was only the second marriage that brought the really big luck. Coincidence or not, Isabelle doesn't want to take any chances. Too bad that Pierre (Robert Plagnol), whom she has chosen as her first husband, seems to be the perfect match. Together with her sister Corinne (Alice Pol), Isabelle plans to throw a wrench in the family curse. She has found a man in Denmark who wants to marry her for 5,000 euros - subsequent flash divorce included. But when Isabelle arrives in Denmark, her husband for hire doesn't show up. Now it's a matter of quickly finding an unsuspecting fool who can be dragged down the aisle for a short marriage. In her airplane acquaintance Jean-Yves Berthier (Dany Boon), an author of travel guides, Isabelle seems to have found the perfect candidate. And so she fires a firework of charms at the unsuspecting man, which he can hardly resist. A turbulent adventure begins, which leads the desperate Isabelle from Africa to Moscow. And even though Jean-Yves still resists her advances, Isabelle is certain: she will marry this man in order to then be able to be happy with Pierre - whatever the cost.

The story that director Pascal Chaumeil (The Hired Lover) tells in The Next One, Please! is very amusing at its core. Peppered with numerous nice ideas and with a lead actor who has been very popular in Germany since Welcome to the Sh`tis, the omens for an enjoyable romantic comedy are actually very good. Especially since Chaumeil has already shown a good hand for a successful mixture of unrestrained silly slapstick, classic comedy and warm romance in The Hire Lover.

Unfortunately, exactly this mixture is not as coherent in The Next Please as it was in its predecessor. In many scenes, Chaumeil's comedic timing is always a touch off, so that potentially good laughs quickly turn into moments of embarrassing strangeness. Whether that's due to the staging or Diane Kruger's lack of comedic talent is up for debate. But the fact is that despite the obvious efforts of all involved, the spark can only really jump in a few scenes. Picturesque locations in Kenya, Russia and Belgium give the film a very engaging visual power. But in the end this is not enough to give the sputtering engine the decisive ignition.

On the other hand, one can give Chaumeil credit for the fact that he once again manages very well to build up a thoroughly heartfelt romance in the midst of the turbulent chaos, which culminates in an extremely clichéd but nevertheless very charming resolution at the end. That this works is surprising in that it's inherently hard to understand why anything like genuine feelings could even be brewing between Isabelle and Jean-Yves. But here, the chemistry between Diane Kruger and Dany Boon works surprisingly well. If this would also apply to the purely comedic scenes, The Next One, Please! could have been a really funny comedy despite some hangs. But as it is, the whole thing just offers nice entertainment that strains the laugh muscles just as often as it unpleasantly tugs at the audience's nerves. And for this there is then also only with big deductions just one: Worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp