An American Werewolf in Paris

 2/4

Starring: Tom Everett Scott, Julie Delpy, Phil Buckman, Vince Vieluf, Julie Bowen, Pierre Cosso

Rated R for Werewolf Violence and Gore, and for Some Sexuality/Nudity

I wasn't the greatest fan of John Landis's cult film "An American Werewolf in London."  I enjoyed its creativity and risk taking, not to mention the charm of lead actor David Naughton.  But I didn't think it was that special.  Then again, the same thing applies to every cult film.  At least to those who aren't charter members of a certain movie's fan club.  So I approached its sequel as someone who is curious, and also someone who is finally seeing a movie he's been intrigued about for 20 years.

"An American Werewolf in Paris" starts out like a traditional sex comedy.  Three guys are traveling Europe in search of cheap thrills, partying and, of course, sex.  Andy (Scott), Brad (Vieluf) and Chris (Buckman) are their names, and while they may not be the most intelligent group of bros, they're believable as a trio.  Their latest stunt is to spend the night drinking on top of the Eiffel Tower.  But Andy, who has suffered from some good natured kidding, has a special plan to bungee jump off the building.  Just then he sees a woman named Seraphine (Delpy) about to do the same...sans bungee cord.  She takes a flying leap, Andy charges after her, and he saves her life (earning himself one hell of a bump on the head for his trouble).  He finds her intriguing and pursues her, but she warns him to stay away.  When he gets invited to a secret party, he finds out why: she's a werewolf.

And that's when the movie falls apart.  The opening 45 minutes aren't representative of great cinema, but the characters are likable and the story moves at a nice clip.  More importantly, director Anthony Waller effectively manages the laughs and the suspense.  Once the truth about Seraphine is revealed, the illusion collapses spectacularly.  The story becomes so choppy that I would swear that scenes were missing.  And the wild shifts in tone are enough to cause whiplash.  One minute Andy is stalked by a werewolf and the next he is running down the street in his underwear.  Or acting like a dog in a restaurant.  I wouldn't mind so much if it was at least funny, but the humor feels like it was rejected from a sitcom.  There is one exception: the first date between Andy and Seraphine is hilarious.  Two words: condoms and chewing gum.

Tom Everett Scott may not be the best actor in the world, but he is handsome and good looking, which is all that is really required in a movie like this.  The tonal shifts and the awful writing defeat him, but they'd crush Kenneth Branagh too, so I won't hold it against him.  His co-star Julie Delpy is a lovely and appealing actress, but her considerable talents are wasted here.  She's on hand for her looks (and she is gorgeous).  Unfortunately her character disappears almost at random, including a five minute block devoted to Andy (inexplicably) romancing an American tourist played by Julie Bowen.  Bowen's character is not funny or interesting and serves almost no purpose.  Her scenes should have been deleted.

Of course, most people go to a werewolf movies for the chases and the maulings.  You don't go to a werewolf movie looking for depth and philosophy.  You go to see people get chewed on by something big and fuzzy.  "An American Werewol in Paris" has that, but these scenes are so badly done that you almost wished they weren't there.  They're filmed in such a way that we never get a good look at the creatures or their victims (lots of shots from the sight of the werewolves though).  No doubt this is due to the fact that this movie contains some of the worst CGI I've ever seen.  It's as bad as The Scorpion King in "The Mummy Returns," if not worse.  Okay, fine.  It's even worse than that.  I don't know if this was done intentionally, but the effect is just the same: you can't take these werewolves seriously.  Not even as high camp.

The reviews for "An American Werewolf in Paris" were awful.  To be fair, the movie isn't that bad, and in fact the first 45 minutes are enjoyable.  But then the plot kicks in and the movie collapses.  Too bad.