Martin Sheen, one of the finest American actors of his generation and sire of an acting brood that includes sons Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez, makes a rare screen attempt at romantic comedy in THE MAID, a lackluster farce filmed in Paris.
Anthony Wayne (Sheen) is a corporate merger specialist newly arrived in the French capital to take a job at the bank run by beautiful Nicole Chantrelle (Jacqueline Bisset). By chance Wayne settles in the same apartment building where the unmarried Nicole resides with her sweet-looking little
terror of a daughter, Marie (Victoria Shalet). Wayne is smitten with Nicole at first sight, and the lady mistakes the love-struck loiterer for a professional maid she has been seeking. Wayne goes along with the masquerade to get close to Nicole, and he frantically juggles the dual identities. He
hides from Nicole at work and pays a cleaning service to tidy up at the apartment in his absence. In time Wayne succeeds as a domestic, as a father-figure for Marie, and as a confidant for Nicole, but she's furious when Wayne drops the ruse and reveals who he really is. Wayne wins back her
affections for good when he unmasks C.P. Oliver (Jean-Pierre Cassel), a suave loan applicant, as a treacherous leech whose shifty dealings caused the collapse of several American institutions that earlier lent him money.
In other words, one faithless French Lothario brought about the current financial crisis in the banking industry, a scenario that somehow escaped the notice of The Wall Street Journal. It's the most noteworthy notion in THE MAID, a weak but inoffensive movie souffle that gives the
always-watchable Sheen and Bisset some lighthearted, if lightheaded, roles to play out. Viewers who remember Sheen's blue-collar turn as the proud union man fighting a corporate takeover in WALL STREET may raise their eyebrows at the warm, fuzzy capitalist he essays here. But the real find in the
film is Victoria Shalet, a young performer who's a natural in front of the camera. Unfortunately, she's stuck with horrific kiddie dialogue and an improbable character turnabout--Marie transforms from an intolerable brat to a small saint just because of a few sharp words from Wayne.
THE MAID was part of a multi-picture deal between The Movie Group and the French media company Canal Plus to crank out low-budget films, shot in English with American stars, European directors and technicians, and formula romantic-comedy scripts. Though the first set turned a tidy profit, from an
artistic standpoint the results have ranged from bland to worse. (Profanity, sexual situations, adult situations.) leave a comment