Too Shy to Try

Too Shy to Try (Je suis timide... mais je me soigne, 1978) is a French comedy you can watch online on iFILM, directed by its own star, Pierre Richard. He plays Pierre Renaud, a Vichy hotel cashier so timid he goes red whenever a pretty woman looks his way.

Pierre falls hard for Agnes, a hotel guest with a model's face and photographers trailing her everywhere. He cannot get a word out. In a panic he blows six thousand francs on tapes, books and a punching bag sold to him by Aldo, a fast-talking Italian con man who promptly appoints himself Pierre's coach in boldness. When Agnes moves on to Nice, then Deauville, the mismatched pair chase her across France on cash from Aldo's sold-off car, with Pierre posing as a polo-playing jet-setter.

This is broad late-seventies farce built entirely on Richard's signature clumsiness: the tall, gangly blond who trips over the obvious. Paired against Aldo Maccione's loud bluster, the gag runs on shyness versus shamelessness. Light, undemanding, easy to put on after a long day. Stream Too Shy to Try (1978) online on iFILM.