What’s in a Name 2012

Uproar ensues when a dinner party guest announces the name proposed for his baby son. Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patellière took no risks adapting their stage comedy hit for the screen. They imported all but one of the original cast and kept the action, with the exception of a zippy prologue, to a single apartment. It proved a sound policy: their film is French cinema’s box office hit of 2012.

“A bunch of 40-something buddies find their dinner date transformed into a dinner disaster in What’s in a Name, an amusing and well-acted French farce in the pure tradition of boulevard classics such as The Dinner Game… As in many such a farce… the twists and quid pro quos ultimately force the various characters to face truths about themselves and one another, and nothing is ever quite as bad as it seems. With plenty of rehearsal time on stage, the cast delivers all the zingers and insults with ease.” — Jordan Mintzer, Hollywood Reporter