The romantic travails of three brothers are dissected with heart and humor in Brice Cauvin’s charming feature. Antoine (Laurent Lafitte) is feeling the 10-year itch with his boyfriend Adar, sad-sack Gérard (Benjamin Biolay) is pining after his soon-to-be ex-wife and savvy businessman Louis (Nicolas Bedos) is getting cold feet over his engagement to his long-time girlfriend. These three men, all in different stages of falling in or out of love, are played by some of the finest actors in France today. The film’s source material is Stephen McCauley’s eponymous novel, but Cauvin and his cowriter transplant the scenario from Massachusetts to France, adding particularly Gallic foibles and eccentricities. With the delightful Agnès Jaoui as Antoine’s coworker and Gérard’s potential new love interest and the wonderful Guy Marchand and Marie-Christine Barrault as the boys’ parents, The Easy Way Out portrays familial dysfunction with effortless wit and humanity.
