A moralistic tale about a man, Andre, who gets a second chance in life when he meets Angela, a tall, femme fatale whom he saves from a suicide bid in the Seine River. The two spend a memorable summer night in nearly deserted Paris where Angela exposes herself as a true angel, sent down to save Andre from himself. - skip ad - Genres: Art/Foreign, Drama and Romance Running Time: 1 hr. 30 min. Release Date: May 25th, 2007 (limited) MPAA Rating: R for language and some sexual content. Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics Cast And Credits Starring: Jamel Debbouze, Rie Rasmussen, Gilbert Melki, Serge Riaboukine, Akim Chir Directed by: Luc Besson Produced by: Didier Hoarau, Luc Besson

Treading awkwardly on the wings of such guardian angel classics as "It's A Wonderful Life" and "Here Comes Mr. Jordan," Luc Besson's foray into oddball romance territory is a visually striking but aurally vapid shrug-inducer.

"Angel-A" finds Besson and cinematographer Thierry Arbogast setting out to do for Paris what Woody Allen and his cinematographer Gordon Willis did for Manhattan, and they succeed in capturing the city in sunlight-bathed, lustrous blacks and whites reminiscent of photos from vintage '50s and '60s magazine layouts.

But this would-be Paris match-made-in-heaven proves to be less than idyllic thanks to the banal dialogue and self-consciously idiosyncratic performances.
Screened in the out-of-competition Sundance Spectrum section, the instantly forgettable film will be released domestically through Sony Pictures Classics.

Meet Andre (Jamel Debbouze), a pipsqueak of a conman who's up to his eyeballs in debt and is running out of places to hide from his very unhappy creditors.
With nowhere else to turn, he finds himself peering down into the abyss -- in the case, the icy Seine -- from the edge of a bridge. He soon realizes he's not alone, and taking the plunge ahead of him is the decidedly long and leggy Angela (Rie Rasmussen).

It turns out the jumper is actually an angel sent from above to help Andre in the self-worth department, but at some point in their ensuing wacky exploits, she commits the cardinal angel no-no of actually falling for her mortal assignment.

While Rasmussen and Debbouze definitely make for an odd couple, Besson's script has them saying and doing things that are constantly hitting comedic sour notes, broadly missing the element of quirky charm necessary for them to click with an audience. As a result, the dreaded ennui begins creeping in early on in the proceedings, and despite the considerable assist of those gossamer monochromatic visuals, "Angel-A" (get it?) never takes flight.