artpf André, a small-time ex-convict, seems to owe money to everyone in Paris, including a crime boss who promises to kill him if he doesn't repay him by midnight. After failing to find protection from the American embassy and the French police, a despairing André scrambles onto a bridge over the Seine, intending to leap to his death. He is surprised to see a tall, beautiful girl clinging to a rail on the same bridge, apparently preparing to end her life as well. She jumps, and he jumps too, suddenly resolving to save her life. After scrambling ashore, she tells him her name is Angel-A. Together, they take a cruise on the Seine, repay André's creditors, visit a Parisian nightspot, and more, as Angel-A helps André. He learns that for this purpose she has fallen out of the sky and into his life. André finds himself falling in love with this mysterious beauty.She's hot, he's a dork. The film is black and white. Very atmospheric and very French. Paris is lovely. The sets are gorgeous. It's a funny romantic comedy that's worth a watch.

Framescourer One part Les Amants du Pont Neuf, one part Wings Of Desire this is a quirky, entertaining but - underneath its skin - fairly predictable and sentimental story about the dispossessed soul.Angel-A might or might not be one (an angel, dummy). Jamel Debbouze as Andre is certainly not, being as guilty of being naive as he is of frittering away ill-gotten funds. However, his golden heart saves the rather translucent one that Angel-A has tucked away in whatever spare wrinkle of space there is under Rie Rasmussen's tightly wound mini- dress. It's a parable about many things and, Luc Besson being who he is, it's not shy of talking about the power of infatuation as well as more chaste love. The characters are nicely played and stylishly filmed although their dialogue doesn't necessarily have the panache.This is a film about people and Paris that swings between the unusual and the predictable. if it had been made by anyone with less sense of fun I think I'd have liked it less. 6/10

ThreeGuysOneMovie So I was searching around the media sites for something to watch the other night and after going through Netflix, Vudu, and Hulu, I didn't see anything that really caught my eye. Finally I gave Crackle a look and I stumbled across this movie by Luc Besson from back in 2005. I enjoyed the Leon: The Professional and La Femme Nikita so I figured I would give this one a try.The story revolves around Andre a down on his luck immigrant living in Paris. He seems to owe money to everyone in the city and they are looking to collect by whatever means necessary. Facing an untimely death anyway, Andre decides to take his own life by jumping into a river.Before he can jump he meets a six foot tall blonde woman named Angela who is also attempting to kill herself in the same fashion. She jumps, and Andre jumps in to save her. Andre manages to pull her out of the river, and Angela, in order to pay back Andre for saving her life, tells Andre that she is going to help him earn back the money he owes so that he can start his life fresh.It is not really giving anything away here to tell you that Angela is actually and Angel that was sent down to save Andre's life. (Angela = Angel-A get it? Oh luc you sly devil you.) Basically, what you are looking at here is 2 parts Its a Wonderful Life and 1 Part Wings Of Desire. Everything about Angel-A is largely derivative and this movie isn't bringing anything new to the table. Just like Wings the movie was shot in black and white and we get to see lots a scenes of architecture from around the city. The black and white doesn't really add any depth to this film.I didn't recognize the two leads from anything else I had seen. Jamel Debbouze was OK as Andre but his performance seems a bit over the top. He chews through his scenes like the Tasmanian devil from the Looney Tunes cartoons. Rie Rasmussen started off with a decent performance but he character gets more and more ham fisted as the movie progress.Angel-A can safely be skipped. If you haven't seen Wings of Desire yet then I highly recommend checking that film out instead.

tipsycitrus 'I am a reflection of you' Angela tells Andre, with an assured, smile over their table at a Parisian café.'What, a beautiful, 6 foot tall slut?' He asks, amused.'Yes.' For those who truly read into those lines, I believe them to be the summation of Andre's dual character profiles (the aesthetic averageand the beautiful inside 'put simply', as Angela might say) and the marrying of all the elements together in this Luc Besson beauty...Angela is the physical manifestation of Andre's 'inside'. In physicality - on which we all naturally draw instant conclusions on the people we encounter...she is the obvious everything that Andre can't see in himself, as it would mean looking past the 'first layer' - the surface.His good nature evokes the saying of those who stand '6 feet tall' purely on the grounds of his goodness - a man to be looked up to. Her 'sluttiness' - that dress and attitude - is a reference to Andre's habit of whoring himself out indiscriminately to anyone, regardless of their true intentions, who'll show him the slightest bit of attention or superficial kindness (the gambling scene and it's lead-up in the bar, embodies this). Her beauty, the embodiment of the western mainstream ideals of femininity and attractiveness - tall, long-legged, blonde, generally model looking - refer to the all-pervasive 'good' that Andre really is inside.Luc, instead of being conventionally preachy by consistently arguing the self is more important than the superficial - actually engages both, a physical manifestation - one in which we all recognise - to exemplify another in a way that couldn't possibly be lost on his audience.Very well done.That line truly made the film for me - otherwise, an elegant, jovial, delicate and smooth-running watch.