"Huge in France": Watch It for the Beefcake

Huge in France (2019) stars Gad  (Gad Elmileh, a comedian who actually is huge in France).  He comes to America and is shocked to find that no one recognizes him.  He is constantly walking into a room, announcing "C'est Gad!", and expecting people to fawn over him.

He's come to reunite with his long-estranged son Luke  (Jordan Ver Hoeve), who wants to become a professional model, and...

um, sorry, I lost my train of thought.

Maybe just one more photo, to get me through the rest of the review.

Jordan is from San Diego (I would have guessed Amsterdam).  He's represented by Brand Model and Talent, which offers a large portfolio of his work.  His instagram offers some even more revealing shots.

Ok, this is the last one.

Luke is being managed and trained by his mom's boyfriend, failed actor Jason (Matthew Del Negro).










More after the break

The beefcake is amazing.  Luke and Jason don't own shirts, and there are ample bulge and bare butt shots.  But beefcake will only take you so far.

Jason veers between annoyingly obsequious and borderline abusive, and Luke is entitled, whining, rude, and generally obnoxious.

Jason:  I can't come up with the money for your pec implants.
Luke: You idiot!  Can't you do anything right?  My modeling career is over because of you!

Gad: I spent $25,000 to arrange for us to have dinner with your modeling idol.
Jason:  Too bad.  You were never there for me when I was a kid, so I'm going to blow you off.

Plus we're expected to believe that Luke has "girl problems": a crush on the school it-girl, who thinks of him as a friend because she's dating fellow model Zene (Austin Fryberger).  Zene, by the way, comes off as incredibly nice, so nice that one wonders why he wants to hang out with Luke at all.  But the three of them go bowling.

Meanwhile, "C'est Gad!" is only funny the first two or three times.  You'd think that Gad would eventually realize that, since he knows nothing about American pop culture, it makes sense that Americans wouldn't recognize him, and stop trying to use his fame to cut in lines or pick up girls.

There are some funny penis references.  Apparently comedians use the phrase "He gets my dick hard" to mean "I like him" but non-comedians misunderstand.

Jerry Seinfeld has a cameo.  For someone who hasn't seen him since the series finale of Seinfeld twenty years ago, the aging is a bit of a shock.

There are some buddy-bonding moments between Gad and his puppy-dog-cute assistant, Brian (Scott Keii Takeda), but no gay characters that I know of, just a few gay references that veer toward the homophobic:

Jason: I need you to pay for this trip with your credit card.
Brian: It's for emergencies only.
Jason: Whip it out!  Whip it out, or I'll whip it out for you!
Brian (Uncomfortable): Are we still talking about credit cards?

Desperate for money, Jason signs up to "deposit" at a sperm bank.  The manager offers to give him an advance on his fee, if he can watch Jason in the act.  He is horrified.

Later:
Girlfriend:  How did you get the money?  Did you suck someone's cock?
Jason: No, I didn't suck anyone's cock.
Girlfriend: Because I couldn't be with someone who would suck someone's cock for a pec implant.


Watch it for the beefcake.

C+