THE STORY – Philip Doom, a wealthy American business magnate, tries to reconnect with his daughter Madeleine during an opulent trip to Paris. But French cuisine, a 1950s horror film, and an invasive hotel employee soon threaten to disrupt the smooth running of their stay.
THE CAST – Woody Harrelson, Kristen Stewart, Charlotte Le Bon, Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim & Emma Mackey
THE TEAM – Quentin Dupieux (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 78 Minutes
Quentin Dupieux is no stranger to the hallowed, red-carpeted steps of the Palais des Festivals. Across his many years as a filmmaker, he has worked his way up from being selected to the Semaine De La Critique with “Rubber,” a film about a telekinetic killer tire, to opening the 2024 edition with “The Second Act.” Now he returns with his latest entry playing out of competition as one of the Midnight screenings. The late-night slot is perfect for his films, as they often defy description or categorization yet always offer something unique. No matter what the subject matter, they can always be identified as the work of this absurdist auteur.
This is one of his few English-language films, and luckily, he found two actors attuned to his wavelength for the lead roles. Woody Harrelson and Kristen Stewart have a fun, suitably combative dynamic as the estranged father and daughter trying to reconnect in a fancy hotel room, while Stewart stuffs her face with mountains of food and Harrelson keeps growing larger as the gap between them widens. It should be no great revelation that Stewart clearly understands the vibe that Dupieux is creating, and her effortlessly sardonic delivery is the perfect foil for Harrelson’s histrionics—having reinvented herself in France, post-”Twilight” with roles in Oliver Assayas’s “Clouds of Sils Maria” and “Personal Shopper.” She also delivers the greatest performance of someone constantly eating food on film since Brad Pitt in “Ocean’s Eleven,” masticating her way through the entire room service menu as a mechanism to avoid confronting her feelings.
The film’s title initially seemed to refer to Philip’s temper, as his frustrations grow ever more palpable. Whether it is embarrassment over a blocked toilet, the constant interruptions as more room service is delivered, or his attempts to connect with Madeleine are disrupted by a surveilling hotel staff member (a wry Charlotte Le Bon). All of which could lead him to the boiling point and go “Full Phil,” as it were. However, the chamber piece begins as a traditional farce: complete with arguments, misunderstandings, and uninvited guests, before taking a gradual turn into the surreal and absurd when Phil begins to suspect that his stomach is getting bigger as the night goes on.
It appears that a symbiotic father-daughter bond is causing him to absorb all the food Madeleine is eating. Still, perhaps it symbolizes Phil’s inability to reconcile his emotions and his connection with his daughter, manifesting as shame, guilt, and anger. Consumed by the negative emotions that eat away at him, seemingly refuse to be digested, and the more the two argue, the bigger he gets. In his own unique way, it feels as though Dupieux was writing his own take on a modern-day Grimm fairy tale; a messy, abrupt climax ultimately fumbles any moral or message in the story.
It has its moments, but what starts as a fun idea for a short film or sketch runs out of steam well before the end of its 78-minute runtime. Compounded by the action continually cutting away to an old black and white horror movie featuring an Emma Mackey cameo and a Creature From The Black Lagoon-esque monster with a penchant for eating people’s heads whole. Big on distended bellies and light on belly laughs, “Full Phil” is a head-scratching oddity that is overlong and underwhelming.
