Herve Villechaize was a little person with a larger-than-life personality. He wasn’t exactly a great actor, but he had that certain something that made him a star. Like most stars, he succumbed to excess. However, he left his mark on the world of pop culture portraying one of the most memorable James Bond henchmen, Nick Nack in The Man with the Golden Gun and Tattoo on Fantasy Island. My Dinner with Herve is a frustrating, yet fitfully absorbing biopic that never quite lives up to its subject.
Peter Dinklage is excellent as Herve. Although he doesn’t look a whole lot like Herve (who does?), he captures his voice and mannerisms quite well. Jamie Dornan isn’t nearly as memorable as the ex-alcoholic reporter who is hired to pen a fluff piece on Villechaize, and predictably, gets more than he bargained for.
Villechaize is a fascinating person. In addition to being a beloved movie star, he was also an accomplished painter. While we catch glimpses on what the real Herve must’ve been like, the film often wallows in the cliched tabloid rags to riches to rags stuff found in most biopics. The framework doesn’t do the movie any favors either, and every time the focus switches from Herve to the reporter’s personal woes, things stop dead in their tracks. (It’s ham-fistedly telegraphed that the reporter is ultimately going to learn a big lesson from Herve and clean himself up before it’s too late.) I can’t help but imagine what the flick could’ve been if it had settled on a more straightforward storytelling device.
Luckily, whenever Dinklage is on screen (which is often), it’s a lot of fun. I could nitpick a lot more about the storytelling choices (his role in Forbidden Zone isn’t even mentioned), but the fact remains that this is a great vehicle for Dinklage. If you’re a fan of either he or Villechaize, it’s worth watching, even if it isn’t wholly satisfying. I also enjoyed seeing Andy Garcia playing Villechaize’s Fantasy Island co-star, Ricardo Montalban. It’s just a shame he’s portrayed as such a one-note character. (The guy they got to play Roger Moore for the Man with the Golden Gun scenes is awesome though.) David Strathairn is quite good too as Herve’s long-suffering agent.
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