An upscale, fortysomething Parisian, Violette dreams of finding a man who will finally make her happy. At the beach in Biarritz with her best friend Ariane, she meets Jean-René: a geeky, divorced IT specialist who is light years from Violette’s sophisticated life. But still they fall in love and begin a relationship that goes well until they go to Paris, where Jean-René finds a job in a bank and meets Lolo, Violette’s 19-year-old son, who does his best to get rid of his mother’s new beau behind her back, like he’s done with all of her previous suitors …

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The fact that the artsy Julie Delpy would cast the mainstream Dany Boon as her star shows she is unpredictable, unclassifiable and definitely daring in the comedy genre. This odd team, at first horrifying for fans of the French director behind 2 Days in Paris and 2 Days in New York, turns out to work better than expected. This is not only thanks to Delpy’s feel for dialogue; she also manages to avoid clichés and conventional situations while giving the movie its invigorating energy. Which deflects from Lolo’s shortcomings, such as the not-so-inspired casting of Vincent Lacoste as the idiot son, Karin Viard as the big-mouthed friend, herself as the nervous, almost hysterical lead and Dany Boon, who deserves better than playing a country bumpkin. Although not as effective and off-the-wall as her previous movies, in the end Lolo is an entertaining comedy which seems to have all the ingredients for success. Hopefully Delpy will follow in the footsteps of Etienne Chatiliez’ Tanguy.