What seems like a standard rom-com takes a spin in a different direction.
In “The Valet” the eponymous main character, Antonio (Eugenio Derbez, “CODA”), gets tangled up in the unraveling of an affair between a Hollywood leading lady Olivia Allan (Samara Weaving) and her married real estate tycoon boyfriend Vincent (Max Greenfield). On its face, the film seems like standard rom-com fare: The unlikely guy somehow gets the girl way out of his league.
But thankfully the director Robert Wong and the screenwriters Bob Fisher and Rob Greenberg avoid that formula, instead serving up a thoughtful buddy comedy about a middle-aged Mexican American immigrant man and a Hollywood leading lady who are both still figuring life out. It’s a welcome addition to the platonic rom-com genre trend.
Much like the French film from which it is adapted, “The Valet” dutifully roasts the awful behavior of the superrich elites toward the waiters and yes, the valets, who make their lifestyles possible, not to mention the army of handlers (Alex Fernandez), private investigators (Ravi Patel and John Pirruccello) and assistants (Tiana Okoye) who do their dirty work. Seeing Antonio traversing Los Angeles’s East-West class divide on his bicycle fortifies the film while also linking viewers to the myriad ways Antonio’s family, friends and neighbors also fortify him. (In this respect, it echoes Patricia Cardoso’s 2002 groundbreaking Los Angeles-set “Real Women Have Curves,” starring America Ferrera.) And Carmen Salinas, in her final film appearance, endears as Antonio’s mother, Cecilia, the sex-positive rock of the family.
“The Valet” takes care to give its many supporting players their moments in the sun, but this contributes to the bulk of Antonio’s arc getting stuffed, perhaps a bit too hastily, into the final act of the film. Still, “The Valet” is an earnest crowd pleaser that unabashedly celebrates the bonds of a Latino family in a tight-knit neighborhood with rom-com aplomb.
The Valet
Rated PG-13 for language of a vroom vroom nature. Running time: 1 hour 58 minutes. Watch on Hulu.
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