Review: Pfeiffer the only reason to watch overly quirky 'French Exit'

Michelle Pfeiffer is delicious in "French Exit," playing an acerbic, no-nonsense Manhattan socialite. She suffers nary a fool, and has no problem starting a fire in a restaurant if she's been crossed. It's Pfeiffer's best, most juicy role in years, a showcase of her particular talents and, hopefully, a reminder to Hollywood that she should be out in front of more movies. 

If only the movie around her was as good as she is. "French Exit" is a mishmash of quirks masquerading as a fully formed idea, its early left turns signals of even harder lefts to come. By the time the talking cat shows up — it involves a séance, it's a long story — "French Exit" has all but careened into a ditch. 

That it doesn't completely go off the road is thanks to Pfeiffer, who plays Frances Price, a once-wealthy widow whose cash supply has dried up. How did it ever get this bad? "My plan was to die before the money ran out," she deadpans, "but I kept not dying." 

She sells her expensive Manhattan residence and heads to Paris with her son, Malcolm (Lucas Hedges, underused). Malcolm is engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Susan (Imogen Poots), but he refuses to tell his mother, both a character flaw and a shortcoming of the script by Patrick deWitt, who based it on his own 2018 novel.

In Paris, Frances blows through big piles of cash, handing it off to strangers and over-tipping wait staff. Meanwhile, a makeshift family begins to form around her, including an admirer (Valerie Mahaffey), a fortune teller (Danielle Macdonald), a private eye (Daniel Di Tomasso) and eventually, Susan and her new fiancé.

Director Azazel Jacobs never quite brings everything together; tonally it's never quite as wacky as the script calls for, and it rides a line of seriousness well past the point that it can be taken seriously. Pfeiffer is the only reason not to exit early. She's a delight, the rest falls apart.   

'French Exit'

GRADE: C

Rated R: for language and sexual references

Running time: 112 minutes

In theaters

agraham@detroitnews.com

@grahamorama