Half a Chance (1998) User Reviews

PURE ENTERTAINMENT!

[El_Chango · 6/10 · 13 December 1998]

Ok... so Une Chance Sur Deux is not the greatest movie ever

made! I'll give you that. It's not even Belmondo's or Delon's

best film. But it is a very, very entertaining piece of film! If

you are a fan of both this actors (like I am) you'll just love

seeing them together in action in this film. And the production

values sure help. All in all, you'll have a great two hours of

fun. Highly recommended.

Alain & Jean together again

[gts-3 · 5/10 · 7 January 2001]

A downright oddity, in fact two movies in one. The first being a comedy about two possible fathers coming to terms with the idea of being a parent. The second a tough as nails russian-mafia-flic, harsh, brutal and not for the faint of heart. Logically the two don´t melt into one and the cross cutting of the two story lines in the film´s early stages only stresses the fact.

But, on the other hand, who cares about a story or its coherence or its lack of respectively? This is a reunion movie and since it´s Alain Delon who is reunited with Jean-Paul Belmondo ("Borsalino" anyone?)all you can ask for is nonchalant banter in between casual shootouts. And that´s what you get. That´s in fact all you get. And that´s why the film well overstays its welcome.

The only reason for distinguished director Patrice Leconte to do this may have been to share a credit with not one but two living legends of the French cinema. And though Belmondo and Delon may having had fun they´re way to old for this kind of physical exercise. We will be giving standing ovations in case any of the three (stars and director) would decide to do a serious crime flic or a "serious" comedy. As for "Une chance pour deux", it isn´t neither.

Slick but disappointing action comedy

[gridoon2024 · 5/10 · 27 February 2009]

The long-awaited (since "Borsalino" in 1970, I think) reunion of two of the greatest and most popular French film stars ever, Alain Delon and Jean Paul Belmondo, is a slick but disappointing action comedy. It is mildly amusing when it focuses on these two and their relationship with the daughter they never knew they had, but the secondary crime plot makes very little sense for at least the first 40 minutes, and the villainous Russian mobsters look and (over)act like refugees from a straight-to-video Steven Seagal movie. Delon and Belmondo are still fun to watch, and they have to be commended for still pulling off some hard and risky stunts at their age; as for Vanessa Paradis, she is fresh and sexy. But if you're looking for this type of "Americanized" French cinematic entertainment, the "Taxi" series (especially Part 2) does it better. ** out of 4.

Ikons Are Forever?

[writers_reign · 26 April 2004]

First, the bad news: Vanessa Paradis has announced her intention of returning to the screen. The good news is even she can't ruin this divertissement. Patrice Leconte doesn't like to repeat himself and he clearly decided it was time he climbed aboard the 'Our Man Flint/Matt Helm' bandwagon and laid a spoof thriller on us. The movie is referential to the nth degree because audiences are supposed to have seen or at least be very much aware that Delon and Belmondo enjoyed a mega smash some thirty years ago with 'Borsalino' in which they played Marseilles-based hoods. Those who know and dug the original will feel a frisson when the Borsalino 'theme' strikes up, those who don't won't care either way. The plot, such as it is, hinges on the Paradis character and Oh, how much better it would have been without this Goldie Hawn look-alike and play alike - all big round saucer eyes and the galloping cutes which is calculated to make cases of male arrested development roll over and play dead. Here she plays a car thief just out of the slammer after her dear old mom has gone to the big jump lead in the sky but not before leaving a cassette tapping either Delon or Belmondo as the biological father of Paradis. So, off she goes to find them, via a boosted car which just happens to belong to the Russian mafia who are not best pleased. She locates both Delon and Belmondo who are more or less forced to team up and take on the mafia - that's right, two over-the-hill hard men against god-knows-how-many nasty men. It's not all blowing up casinos and throwing heavies off cliffs cos in between we get lotsa laffs - think Duke Wayne and Bob Mitchum in 'El Dorado' and you're getting there. This is French so even the mayhem is done stylishly. Go see, enjoy. 8/10

one chance out of two to give this film a chance

[dbdumonteil · 7/10 · 4 November 2007]

In his book "I am an impostor", Patrice Leconte wrote that "une Chance Sur Deux" drew more than a million viewers in French theaters when the film was theatrically released. It was however a failure because this film was expensive to make due to its stars: Vanessa Paradis, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon, the restless story and its treatment. Critics were hardly tender towards the Leconte 1998 vintage and view the three stars' incredible adventures in an unfavorable light. With hindsight, "une Chance Sur Deux" is sandwiched between two Leconte masterworks: "Ridicule" (1996) and "la Fille Sur la Pont" (1999) and didn't seem to be in the hearts of many Leconte aficionados.

However, I'm eager to restore it to favor. Sure, it doesn't match the two aforementioned Leconte works as well as other pearls in his filmography but it has more than good stuff to spend a pleasant time in front of your telly. The starting point could make you guess you're going to watch a reflective piece of work. A young girl Alice is released from prison and is confronted to a serious problem: two men who are retired gangsters claim to be her father. They will have to team up to save their daughter from the clutches of the Russian Maffia, Colombian traffickers and the police.

Quite quickly, after having timidly broached the issue of paternity on a humorous tone, Leconte's film takes a lighter direction: to entertain thanks to an unlikely but exciting scenario with stunts, chases interspersed with laughter. I especially dig the moment when Belmondo and Delon oblige a gangster to practice bungee-jumping to help them in their investigation. And amid this flood of unexpected twists and mad adventures shot with a style close from the comic strip, Leconte didn't lose his trademark with witty cues and one of his thematic tastes: the duo of men even if in this domain "une Chance Sur Deux" is much less elaborated than other Leconte films on the same topic like "Tandem" (1987) or "l'Homme Du Train" (2002). One also shouldn't forget some eccentric characters like the cop acted by Michel Aumont.

The three stars don't take themselves seriously and it's the position adopted by Leconte to better involve the audience. So, don't be fooled by the lukewarm reception the film garnered about ten years ago and let yourself immersed in this maelstrom of agitation shot with rigor and a conscientious manner.

Such fun

[bluegum4 · 7/10 · 2 June 2001]

This is like the French James Bond. It was such fun, yet thrilling too.The story of a girl looking for a father, finding two and so very much more. Lots of bullets and high speed car chases. I really enjoyed it.

On top of the worst celebrities movie ever

[oragex · 2/10 · 10 March 2014]

Yes, big, big french names.

Dialogues - worst than your regular soap opera.

Acting - trained dogs would act better. You read right, among the most recognized french actors not only have no clue, not only it looks like improvisation, but in this movie they act like I did when I had for the first time a role on a theater scene.

Directing - see above. Either there was no directing in this movie, either the director had diarrhea and felt no relief during the filming.

Plot - where is it? Maybe the director was reading it while waiting on a toilet for mentioned issue.

You know, I had a thought. It's nice to bring (old) big names on the screen, to get people driven by nostalgia to visit the theater. But when you ruin a movie in such way, that also ruins the memories.

The bad, the worst and the ugly...

[thegarf · 3/10 · 21 January 1999]

Pitiful. Desperately boring. I've seen this movie the same day I watched the 5th Element. The story is just unbelievable. Example : Delon and Belmondo do not know each other, but when they take their weapons for the gunfight (in an arsenal worthy of Saddam Hussein in his best days), they joke about an hypothetic "good old time" when they obviously have met... Another example : everyone knows that a latex ball (you know, the kind your dog likes to bite) is the perfect tool to steal a Mercedes or a BMW : just push it hardly, it's magic, forget the keys !!! I could have talked about the "hidden daughter" that comes back after years, but it has been used and reused so many times... I was even surprised to learn that Leconte had been unimaginative enough to use it again ! As an advertiser, he knows his job. But this movie convinces me he should stop spoiling film... Turning to Belmondo and Delon, they are lost for action movies. And Paradis... well, she was a rebellious teenager in "Noces blanches". And she looks quite the same in "1 chance sur 2". Perhaps she'll dare to act as something else one day... who knows, maybe as an actress !

The French answer to the Bond series?

[pjl-7 · 8/10 · 31 October 2003]

Belmondo & Delon, together again, and this time with Vanessa Paradis in tow - or is it the other way round? The basic premise of the film is that Alice Tomaso (Paradis) gets out of jail, and goes looking for Léo (Belmondo) and Julien (Delon), one of whom, it appears, is her father. On the way, she steals the wrong car - one belonging to the Russian mafia, and arrives at her destination with a gang of thugs out looking for her and the car. Mayhem and murder ensue, as Delon and Belmondo compete, not to win the girl, but just for the right to call themselves her father. In the process, they join forces, disrupt the mafia, seize the loot and head of to America for a paternity test.

The whole movie is played for laughs, capitalizing on the James Bond, Naked Gun genre of action comedy, and it works really well. The action is as fast paced, and every bit as far fetched, as any Bond flick. The understated humour, the slick gags and special effects, the subtle dialogue all make this a movie to watch, if you're a Bond fan. You won't be disappointed. On the other hand, if you want your French films to be "arty," deep and philosophical, you'd better go look for a Truffaut or an early Jeunet - you won't find what you're looking for here. This is shallow, it's slapstick, it's silly, and it's fun. Nothing special, just a good evening's entertainment that won't tax your brain (unless you have a problem reading subtitles).

A film to relax enjoy and have great fun

[msbsegal · 10/10 · 24 October 2006]

I have seen this great movie at least 3 times and enjoyed it even more the third time. Of course I saw it in French and for sure it is nothing like a translation. You can feel it throughout the movie how much fun Delon and Belmondo have in playing together, they are enjoying themselves, they have a day of it. What more can you say of the greatest stars of the French cinema for the last 50 years, I have seen almost all of their separate and joint movies, like "Borsalino": but in Borsalino you did not have the same feeling of complicity, which transpires here. All "the most this" and "most that" are pale in comparison to the pleasure you have at seeing them doing what they do best : throwing grenades and pulling the casino down...Vanessa Paradis is new to me, and gave a good show. Some of her scenes with the two lead men are quite moving. I have come to enjoy Eric Defosse, whom we saw as Carella in the "Frank Riva" series. I like him he will go far. This a film to enjoy and laugh..

now is better than later or never

[buktel · 19 August 2007]

I would like Delon and Belmondo had come together for the second time at least ten years earlier. Then the action scenes would be not only more credible but more creative, too.

The story of the film is basically creative, but the action scenes take more than enough time while the real asset of the story (and of the film, too) was not the action but the relation of the three major characters. I would like to see much more scenes about the relations of the extraordinary characters and smart dialogs among them, that is, I would rather to enjoy the magnetism of the acting and personalities of the extraordinary triangle of Delon/Belmondo/Paradis than to watch the ordinary explosions, ordinary mafia guys, ordinary car chases, ordinary flying bullets and the other similarly ordinary trifles.

Delon and Belmondo must come together for a third time, and this time without waiting for ten years more. Yes it may be already late. But now is better than later or never.

charming comedy

[lyl-1 · 9/10 · 4 January 2002]

Excellent duet of two the best French actors (Belmondo & Delon) who never played together before. And normal Russian language (pronunciation) and Russian people (not rough Hollywood stamp, but french humour). It is real light French cinema.

This is pure fun. Belmondo playing Belmondo and Delon playing Delon.

[patate-2 · 1 September 1999]

Both were icons of French action flicks in the 60' and 70'. Both played together once in 1970. Now don't be fooled. This isn't reality. This is an imaginary and unlikely story where actors and viewers are accomplices. Just as in any Bond flick, weapons are big and heroes get-off easy where most mortals would kick the bucket. This time, heroes are gray just as we all are getting. Imagine Sean Connery coming out of retirement and teaming with Charles Bronson for a field day. That's what we get here.

Chances are we'll get a Hollywood remake any day now.

It's a paycheck

[taylor9885 · 5 May 2002]

You look at the birthdates and you shake your head. Belmondo at 65, Delon at 62--who can take them seriously as action heroes? Even Sean Connery had the sense to retire as Bond before he got too many grey hairs.

Oh, there are some nice effects--good to see French producers shelling out for explosions and so forth, but this is a poor effort. Only thing to admire is Vanessa Paradis: her toothy grin and enthusiasm are growing on me, but see her in the far-better La Fille sur le pont.