WasAnnon Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

ChanBot i must have seen a different film!!

AutCuddly Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Turfseer 'Harry' is a story about an ordinary middle-class couple, Michel and Claire and their three young children. They're on their way to visit Michel's parents when they pull over at a rest stop. While Michel is in the bathroom, he's approached by Harry who identifies himself as a long lost high school acquaintance. Harry alludes to a poem that Michel wrote in high school along with a sci-fi novel as well as pointing to an incident in which Michel chipped his tooth while rough-housing during a soccer match.The problem is that Michel is unable to recognize Harry and this crucial plot point doesn't really ring true. It's unlikely that Michel would forget about Harry completely especially when we later learn that Michel's dentist father did some bridge work for him and Michel's brother Eric also can recall who he is. Somehow, the film's scenarists implausibly suggest that Michel has become emotionally stunted to the point where he's lost some of his basic memories.Harry is traveling with his bimbo girlfriend, Plum, and manage to get themselves invited back to Michel and Claire's summer house (the trip to Michel's parents is cancelled when one of their daughters develops a fever). Before you know it, Harry and Plum are sleeping over. Harry is positively creepy as a good number of his conversations involve one kind of sexual innuendo or another. Claire is a bit suspicious but Michel passively allows Harry to insinuate himself into their lives. It becomes obvious that Harry is totally obsessed with Michel, especially when he keeps encouraging him to start writing again—an avocation Michel dispensed with early on during high school.At first it appears that Michel will become the target of Harry's creepy obsession. But soon we see that it's Michel's parents Harry has it in for. He ends up showing up at their apartment late at night pretending that Michel is in trouble and coaxes the parents to follow him in his car to Michel and Claire's. On the way, Harry maneuvers his car behind the parents' car and manages to push them off the road, down a cliff. While the parents are killed, we never learn why. The only clue that's offered is that Harry was upset over some poor dental work that Michel's father was responsible for in the distant past.The death of the parents puts Michel into a tailspin. He closets himself away in the bathroom and begins obsessing about trying to finish his 'Flying Monkey' short story which he began in high school. Claire pays a visit to Harry at a hotel where Plum and he are now staying. She mentions to Harry that Michel is trying to write again and crazy Harry thinks that's a good thing. But Claire also makes it clear that Harry's no longer welcome back at the house. Meanwhile, Michel's brother Eric has shown up for the parents' funeral and Harry ends up doing him in too.The denouement makes little sense. Harry returns to Michel and Claire's summer house and kills Plum after she tells him she wants to start a family. Instead of hiding the body himself, he asks Michel to help him dispose of it by throwing it down a well in the front yard. After Michel helps Harry to dispose of Plum, Harry then simply asks Michel to help him slaughter Claire and the kids. Did you ever hear of a serial killer who becomes obsessed with one family member but wants to kill everyone else? In real life, serial killers end up killing everybody but not here! Michel comes to his senses and stabs Harry with a knife; he then throws him down the well and then shovels dirt so that the bodies will not be found.All's well that ends well when Claire asks Michel what happened to Harry and Plum and he tells them they had to leave but left "sending their love". The upside is that Harry stoked Michel's creative fires after all. He begins writing a new novel entitled "The Eggs" (Harry earlier had spoken approvingly of eating an egg every morning to help with virility). Claire tells Michel she read his new story and thinks it great that he's begun writing again.One problem is left unexplored. What happened with the investigation into Eric's disappearance? Wouldn't the police start poking around after Eric's friends start asking about him? And wouldn't they look at Michel as a possible suspect, especially after the recent mysterious deaths of their parents? Some internet posters have offered the dubious theory that Harry is actually the altar ego of Michel and that he is the actual murderer. I don't have the space to debunk that theory here but plenty of well-informed postings refute the entire fanciful idea.'A Friend Like Harry' expects you to figure out Harry's motives in trying to kill Michel's family as well as his obsession with Michel without much evidence. Yes, there are a few tantalizing clues thrown out here and there but the antagonist's motivations are intentionally left quite vague. And the fact that Harry makes no effort to hide his murderous nature from Michel at the film's end is almost laughable.'Harry' is a bit slow-moving but basically keeps your interest until the climax. Sergi Lopez can do little in the part of the demented Harry since the script calls for a character that's not plausible. Equally implausible is the character of Michel who never seems to have a clue that Harry wants to do harm to his family until the very end. Director Dominik Moll is obviously aiming for some Hitchcock-like suspense but leaves us with characters that do not add up in the end.

MARIO GAUCI Another deservedly acclaimed French thriller but, as opposed to the kinetic and twist-laden TELL NO ONE (2006), this is a slow-burn and (relatively) simply-plotted film with, if anything, even more emphasis on characterization. Again, this elicits memories of earlier suspensers – notably Alfred Hitchcock's STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951) and the Stephen King adaptation MISERY (1990), whose narratives are neatly amalgamated here – as we get the title character, a rich wastrel and casual acquaintance of the hero who gradually reveals psychotic tendencies, misguidedly lending a helping hand to sort out the latter's domestic problems while, at the same time, being somewhat obsessed by the young man and resenting in particular his (unconscious) decision to suppress the talent he once possessed as an author! Like the Guillaume Canet film I mentioned earlier, much of the power of the piece emanates from careful casting and, in fact, all four leads (the others being the two protagonists' respective partners, with the hero's wife being played by Mathilde Seigner, sister of Roman Polanski's wife Emmanuelle) deliver good performances. As I said, the film essentially maintains a low-key throughout, even in its moments of violence (with a couple actually occurring off-screen!) so that we get no CAPE FEAR-type melodramatics. The last act is quite interesting as, first, I half-expected the film to turn into a variation on PERFORMANCE (1970) with the villain disappearing for a while and the hero not only picking up some of the former's idiosyncrasies but even takes an active interest in his girl!; then, it almost takes a leaf from Claude Chabrol's LA CEREMONIE (1995) when Harry tries to persuade his 'idol' to get rid of the latter's family for good. However, it finally settles on (effectively) reprising the ironic twist which concludes LA FEMME INFIDELE (1968), a much earlier Chabrol effort (an obvious influence here, that film-maker being officially recognized as "The French Hitchcock"). Though one can fault the movie its slight overlength (116 minutes), an even bigger regret is the fact that the script treats proceedings a little too earnestly rather than approach them as black comedy! On a personal note, the fact that the protagonist here is a 34-year old former writer (I will be that same age in August and have not 'created' anything for the last 8 years!) struck a little too close to home for comfort!

alma Harry's character reminds me of quite a few strange people I've met in my life (fortunately not to that extent) and I think Moll and Lopez did a pretty good job at making us feel terribly uncomfortable. Harry though not talking new age and flying saucers is easy to spot as first class weirdo with an underlying sickly obsession for Michel. Bad luck for Michel. The obsession probably sprouted during the time they shared at high school and suddenly knows no boundaries. With obvious manipulative tricks he manages to intrude Michel's family life only to end in absolute horror. In this regard, I can't stop thinking of Patricia Highsmith's Ripley, Ferdinand/Freddy (The Collector) and Evelyn Draper ('Play Misty for me'). Despite I enjoyed this film for all the untied subplots and the truly scary weird repulsive Harry, it could have been developed much further psychologically than it is. Michel at some point seems to lose all common sense and moral (which was an interesting idea) then shifts back to 'reason' which lead to a rather boring and unconvincing ending: Michel driving the soundproof, aircon'd 4x4 car Harry has gifted him like nothing ever happened (parents, brother, Harry's girlfriend and Harry all together dead in the cesspool). In my opinion that's the weakness of the film.

richard_sleboe Evil dentists are everywhere: Think "The Little Shop of Horrors", "The Whole Nine Yards", "Punch-Drunk Love", "Marathon Man", and, of course, "Brazil". But Michel's dad (Dominiqze Rozan) adds a new touch. A long-retired doddering dentist, the old man insists on a check-up whenever his son (Laurent Lucas) is visiting. Like Michel hadn't got enough to worry about without opening wide for daddy's drill. He is all but broke, and his vacation home is going to pieces. As is his marriage to classy Claire (Mathilde Seigner, Emmanuelle Seigner's kid sister). This is when Harry (Sergi López) shows up, bimbo (Sophie Guillemin) in tow. A friend from school, Harry believes Michel is destined to be a writer and tries to help him get back in touch with his muse. Trouble is we never learn why. As a result, the movie is stuck in the middle between the commonplace and the absurd. Director Dominik Moll's most recent feature, "Lemming", takes things a lot further in the direction of the surreal, and to advantage too. "Harry" picks up speed in its final half-hour though. Think "Blood Simple" meets "The Cable Guy". My favorite character: the flying monkey in the nightmare scene.