Thanks to Intouchables the career of Omar Sy has had an enormous boost. After that film he hasn’t only appeared in French movies, but also made the move to Hollywood. He appeared in Jurassic World, Inferno, Burnt and X-Men: Days of Future Past. Although he wasn’t bad in those roles he’s better when he is the focus of the movie. Thanks to him Intouchables was a success, but also in Monsieur Chocolate he showed that he was strong in a role that asked for a bigger range of emotions. In Demain Tout Commence this is also the case, although it mainly is about his comedic talent.
Samuel (Omar Sy) works in Marseille at a popular beach club and enjoys life to the fullest. He drives a boat, showing tourists the sights and regularly sleeps with various women. After a wild evening he suddenly is face to face with a woman from his past, who has a baby. She tells him it is his daughter, gives the girl to him and leaves. He tries to go after her, but is unable to find her when he ends up in London. Through circumstances he manages to get a job as a stuntman and he decides to raise his daughter on his own and make her the happiest girl in the world. When the truth slowly starts to play a bigger role he has to make a decision how to deal with that.
For about ninety percent of the running time Demain Tout Commence is a feel good film. Samuel lives in an apartment which could have been designed by Josh from Big and the bond he has with his daughter is so strong that he’s willing to do anything for her, even when that scares others (like him pretending to be dead after each stunt waiting for his daughter to “bring him back to life”). When his way of life is threatened when the mother shows up he tries to deal with it the best way possible, even if that means not telling the truth to his daughter. Something which stands out is that his daughter Gloria (Gloria Colston) is played by an American actress. That American accent is weird for someone with a French father who has grown up in London. The movie explains it away by saying that she watches a lot of American shows. Which really isn’t that convincing. Still there aren’t a lot of negative things to say about this film. Yes, sometimes is all a bit too sweet (like when Samuel and Gloria do their dance), but the last part has enough weight to offer a great range of emotions. It’s a movie which is nice to watch and regularly has jokes that hit the target.
