Think Waking Ned (or almost any other British comedy of the last ten years) and you'll have a fair idea of what Gallic comedy Seducing Doctor Lewis (Le Grande Séduction) has to offer - a mixture of cheeky humour and feelgood homilies that entertains but falls short of being exceptional. Disgraced doctor Christopher Lewis (David Boutin) ends up on a remote island in desperate need of a GP and the plucky inhabitants are prepared to go to absurd lengths to keep him there.
The islanders need a doctor to improve their employment prospects as the owners of a potential new factory won't commit until they have a medic in residence. Led by the avuncular Germain (Raymond Bouchard), the islanders do everything from tapping the doc's phone to faking a mass obsession with his favourite sport, cricket, just to convince Christopher that he wouldn't want to live anywhere else.
"LACKS SUFFICIENT BITE"
At the risk of damning with faint praise, it's all terribly nice. The good doctor ends up on the island for possession of class As but once there, he falls in step with island life almost immediately and there's little of the culture clash you might expect.
Rather too much is made of the islanders' collective naïveté of the outside world and overall it lacks sufficient bite. And yet, with a community built on small but perfectly formed performances and a Gallic romanticism all of its own, you may still find yourself being seduced.
In French with English subtitles.