Sirens (2024) France does a buddy cop movie - Review

Sirènes is a 2024 action buddy cop movie directed by Adeline Picault, who previously received international attention with her teen comedy How to Make Out in 2020. Sirens went directly to TV and streaming this year. 

Leïla and Alison, the protagonists.

Leïla Balani (Shirine Boutella) is a dorky and meekish expert in criminology who wishes to become a lieutenant, but her flawed training performance keeps her away from the field. She is eventually given a chance to prove her skills when she´s assigned to be the partner of untamable and fierce police captain Alison Flesh (Alice Pol). Together they must solve a string of tarot related murders using their virtues and talents. Alison with wit and brute force, and Leïla with gentleness and intelligence.  

The best parts often involve the strong and well defined characters with personality traits and quirks that go beyond punchlines, these become part of the character´s nature and way of living. From Alison´s carefree parenting and seasoned ideas regarding her lack of trust on the system due to her constant frustrations with it´s failures, or Leïla´s geekish eccentricities and ineptness, which becomes a plotpoint later on and a source for internal conflict as well. The two heroines shine because of their clashing personalities and likable on-screen chemistry, developing a believable friendship. They are both lovable losers in their own way who are just getting by and doing the best they can, you root for them all the way.

There´s lots of silly comedy that works because of the actor´s total commitment to their roles and because of the constant movement and rapid pacing, always moving from one joke to another, never overstuffing the movie with gags but also never becoming dull or stale. Some instances of off-beat jokes can be found but not prominently.  

I also enjoyed the slightly gritty edge of the flick, creating very interesting visuals that fit very much in the lighthearted but graphic tone the movie very skillfully handles. Never too stupid but never too heavy either. The scene that shows the girls discovering the first corpse is an example, and the slightly raunchy but undeniably comedic morgue scene is another one. 

Alison messing with Leïla.

I will say that there are some jokes that you can only get if you are from France or are familiar with the country and its regions but there aren't too many of those, most of the humor is universal.   

The direction was decently handled, most of the blocking and photography is conventionally executed, you can expect that from a TV movie, but it´s colors, good-looking cinematography and competent camera work make the film easy to watch.  

Typical karaoke scene.

The weakest part of the movie is simply the fact that it has to follow the established plot beats that come with buddy cop movies, never truly deviating from that formula, featuring obligatory scenes like the bonding/night out partying scene (which isn't that bad actually) or the typical fracture in the relationship between the heroines in the “dark night of the soul” point of the screenplay, which feels forced. 

There's also the attempt at commentary on gender politics that most of time rings phony and not truthful enough to resonate. One example of this badly executed element are the cartoonishly sexist male characters in the police station who are fellow partners of the protagonists, or the very half-baked rationale behind the murders that only serves to highlight how lazy the script really is. I usually applaud French cinema for being daring and touching political subjects Hollywood wont, like Under Paris for example, but here it doesn't make much sense. These problems mostly occur after the midpoint, the film starts out strong but deteriorates into cliche territory after a while. You can even guess the identity of the killer less than half way into the picture. 

It's far from a perfect addition to the genre but the main performers do a great job with their characters and there are some laughs to be had within those first 30 or 40 minutes. The rest isn't up to par but it never becomes downright awful.