American Andy (Tom Everett Scott), Brad (Vince Vieluf), and Chris (Phil Buckman) visit Paris and find French girl, Serafine (Julie Delpy), about to commit suicide by jumping from the Eiffel Tower. Andy saves her, not knowing she is a werewolf. Invited to a party where the guests are meant to be dinner by her less well-meaning pack mates, Andy escapes, but is bitten and now he and Serafine must find a way to survive as wolves.
A different title would have been smart, as this one invites comparisons to An American Werewolf in London, and that doesn’t help this lesser flick. It’s hard to find that delicate balance between horror and comedy that Landis achieved; director Anthony Waller attempts it by jumping up and down on one side of the scale while he smashes a sledgehammer on the other side. Guess what? He fails. By a lot. The comedy is low-grade sitcom, things that would have gotten the writers of Gilligan’s Island fired as being beneath the dignity of the cast. The horror consists of CGI cartoonish werewolves. I’m not in the anti-CGI camp. Sometimes computer-made monsters work. Not here. The wolves look funny, not scary, and far too fake to elicit fear.
Still, even with poor humor and bad effects, this could have been a good film with a sympathetic lead, but Scott lacks the talent to make anything of the poorly written character he’s given. When David walked across that foggy English moor sixteen years ago, I liked the guy and cared when the werewolf ripped into his flesh. But Andy was a mild annoyance at best, and I would have been happier to see the wolves take him apart than have him proceed with the completely unbelievable romance.
Julie Delpy does have the skill to create a real character from nothing and stands out as the bright spot in a dim film. She is notably better than her material. She deserved better. The closest thing to a laugh came when Serafine tried to calm Andy with the aid of her breasts. It would have been a sexy scene had she been straddling someone else. Delpy, and the fun of watching even horribly artificial werewolves rip apart frat boys, makes this worth keeping on should it appear on your TV screen, but don’t bother seeking it out.