Ian Edelman's comedy Puerto Ricans in Paris is a much sweeter film than its Snakes on a Plane–level title would suggest. Luis (Luis Guzmán) and Eddie (Edgar Garcia) are New York detectives who travel to France to track down a thief holding the prototype of a handbag created by famous designer Colette (Alice Taglioni) for ransom lest the crook flood the market with knockoffs. Director Edelman takes the Continental corporate-intrigue mystery seriously — with at least a third of the dialogue in subtitled French — and though Luis, Eddie and the camera make a point of ogling her early on, Collette emerges not as l'objet du désir but a well-rounded character with agency.
Her inner life is explored no less than the men's, she's actively involved in the investigation and as much time is spent on Collette's burgeoning platonic friendship with Eddie as on the occasionally predictable culture-clash comedy. This is all the more significant given the fact that Luis' girlfriend Vanessa (Rosario Dawson) and Eddie's wife Gloria (Rosie Perez) stay behind in America and are thus absent for much of the film. While it's a shame that those two terrific actresses are reduced to cameos, Puerto Ricans in Paris makes up for it by passing the Bechdel Test and just being a good time overall.
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Credits
Director:
- Ian Edelman
Cast:
- Luis Guzman
- Edgar Garcia
- Rosie Perez
- Rosario Dawson
Writers:
- Ian Edelman
- Neel Shah
Producer:
- Armando Christian Perez
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Puerto Ricans in Paris is not showing in any theaters in the area.
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