''Nicky Larson et le parfum de Cupidon'' (; ; also known as ''City Hunter'') is a 2018 French

action comedy film Action comedy is a genre that combines aspects of action and comedy. The genre is most prevalent in film with action comedy films, though several TV series fit this genre. Film The action comedy film is a film genre that combines aspects of actio ...

directed by

Philippe Lacheau Philippe Lacheau (; born 25 June 1980) is a French actor, director and writer. Career From 2002 to 2010, Philippe Lacheau worked on French television for several TV Show like the "Casting Live" (2002), "Total Fun" (2003) and "Pour le meilleur ...

who also co-wrote the screenplay with Julien Arruti and Pierre Lacheau. It is an adaptation of the Japanese

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

and

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

series ''

City Hunter is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tsukasa Hojo. It was serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1985 to 1991 and collected into 35 ''tankōbon'' volumes by its publisher Shueisha. The manga was adapted int ...

'' (known as ''Nicky Larson'' in France) by

Tsukasa Hojo is a Japanese manga artist. He studied technical design while still at Kyushu Sangyo University, where he began to draw manga. He worked on several one-shot stories before releasing his serialized works: '' Cat's Eye'', ''City Hunter'' and ''A ...

, who agreed to the adaptation after reading the script. The film features Philippe Lacheau,

Élodie Fontan Élodie Fontan (; born 9 July 1987) is a French actress. She has appeared in more than fifteen television and film productions since 1996. Life and career Élodie Fontan started very young in French commercials for Nissan, Quick and Euro Disney ...

Tarek Boudali Tarek Boudali ( ar, link=no, طارق بودالي; born 5 November 1979) is a French actor and humorist of Moroccan origin. Life and career Tarek Boudali, of Moroccan origin, graduated with a Higher Technician Certificate (BTS) Sales Force. ...

and Julien Arruti in lead roles, along with

Didier Bourdon Didier Bourdon (; born 23 January 1959) is a French actor, screenwriter and film director. He first reached stardom in France when he created the comedic trio Les Inconnus with Bernard Campan and Pascal Légitimus, which was very popular throu ...

, Kamel Guenfoud, Sophie Mousel and

Pamela Anderson Pamela Denise Anderson (born July 1, 1967) is a Canadian-American actress and model. She is best known for her glamour modeling work in ''Playboy'' magazine and for her appearances on the television series ''Baywatch'' (1992–1997). Anders ...

in supporting roles. It was first released on 6 February 2019.

Synopsis

Nicky Larson is an unusual private investigator, as talented a street fighter as a sniper. He is often called on to solve problems that no one can solve. Aided by his partner Laura, he offers multiple services to his customers, more or less dangerous. But, as professional and famous as he is, he has a major flaw: his particularly exacerbated penchant for the fairer sex, which poses a lot of worries to Laura. One of his clients entrusts him one day the mission to protect the "Cupid's perfume", a fragrance that makes anyone who wears it absolutely irresistible. But a moment of distraction on Larson's part allow thugs to seize it. Nicky Larson must then recover the perfume.

Cast

The characters are named as they are known in the French dubbed version of the anime series, while the Japanese dubbed version of the film uses their original names.

Promotion

At the

Comic Con Paris Comic Con Paris, or previously known as Kultima and Comic-Con', is a French multi-genre entertainment and comic convention held annually in Paris, Île-de-France, France. From 2007 to 2014, it was held at the Parc des Expositions in Villepinte ...

in October 2018, it was revealed that Jean-Paul Césari and Vincent Ropion would make cameos in the film. The first being the interpreter of the French credits song of the animated series while the second is the French voice of the main character.

Release

The film was previewed over most of France on December 15, 2018, before its national release on February 6, 2019, the same in Switzerland. On February 13, 2019, the film was released in Belgium, on March 14, 2019 in Thailand and on May 23, 2019 in Russia under the title ''Undercover Playboy''.

Box office

The film debuted at #3 in France, with an opening weekend gross of €3,111,807 ($3,515,249). In France, the film sold more than 1million tickets and grossed €8,817,024 ($10,031,595) by 24 February 2019. As of 31 March 2019, the film has sold 1,684,350 tickets and grossed $12,898,742 in France. The film released in Japan on 29 November 2019, debuting at #8 and grossing from 38,676 admissions in its first three days. , the film has grossed ($1,321,874) in Japan. In total, the film has sold 1,903,808 tickets and grossed $14,702,744 worldwide, .

Reception

On December 14, 2018, the day before the premiere, Simon Riaux, in his review for ''Écran large'', wrote: ... "the film sends a handful of sometimes hilarious images, sometimes imbued with unexpected prettiness (...) in subjective vision in quilted pursuit", but "the story manages to hold an astonishing harmony between pastiche and first degree. (...) The dialogues appear more than once as the main weak point of the team". Frédéric Mignard from ''Avoir-alire'' admits that it is "probably the most sympathetic film of its author since the ''

Babysitting Babysitting is temporarily caring for a child. Babysitting can be a paid job for all ages; however, it is best known as a temporary activity for early teenagers who are not yet eligible for employment in the general economy. It provides auton ...

''s, far from the recent shipwrecks in comic strip adaptation, like that of ''Gaston Lagaffe''. (...) To tell the truth, the misunderstandings gags and the astonishing situations are typical of the work of Lacheau (...) and as one is never bored nor has the impression of wasting his time, one mays pardon him his few artistic wanderings." On the other side, Alexandre Lazerges of '' GQ'' wrote that "Philippe Lacheau is worse than '' Qu'est-ce qu'on a encore fait au Bon Dieu?'', destroying a cult manga despite the presence of Pamela Anderson and Dorothée"

References

External links

Official press kit of ''Nicky Larson et le Parfum du Cupidon''
*
Nicky Larson et le Parfum de Cupidon
' on '' Unifrance'' *
Nicky Larson et le Parfum de Cupidon
' on '' Allociné'' * *
Philippe Lacheau and Tsukasa Hojo (北条司) at Comic-Con Paris 2018
' {{City Hunter 2010s French-language films Live-action films based on manga Films based on adaptations Live-action films based on animated series Films based on animated television series French crime comedy films 2018 films 2010s crime comedy films City Hunter Films set in France Slapstick films 2018 comedy films Films directed by Philippe Lacheau 2010s French films