The Valet

This charming romantic comedy about a parking attendant who finds himself "dating" the world's most famous actress has surprising heart and depth.

“The Valet” seems like a piffle, a low-budget romcom about a parking attendant who finds himself “dating” the world’s most famous actress. I use quotes because the whole thing is a ruse, and he’s being paid to pretend to be her boyfriend to deflect attention from her affair with a married real estate tycoon.

A remake of the 2006 French film (unseen by me), it wears the clothes of a standard-issue romantic odd couple flick like “Green Card” and “Notting Hill.” But the movie, directed by Richard Wong from a screenplay by Bob Fisher and Rob Greenberg, boasts surprising heart and depth, as well as some sly social commentary on cultural and class divides.

It’s now available for streaming on Hulu.

Eugenio Derbez plays Antonio Flores, a 47-year-old valet in Los Angeles who doesn’t seem to have much going for him. His wife, Isabel (Marisol Nichols), has separated from him and he lives with his elderly mother, Cecilia (Carmen Salinas), in a cramped motel-style apartment building, getting to see his teen son (Joshua Vasquez) infrequently. He gets around on a bicycle and has a hairstyle and mustache that are just… unfortunate.

But Antonio is also extremely decent and kind. His earnest, awkward manner has a way of gradually charming those around him. He also has a large extended family who adore and support him.

Still, there’s no doubt the external world sees him as a loser. He’s the sort of guy for whom things just don’t go his way. For instance, he discovers that his mother is secretly having an affair with their landlord, Mr. Kim (Ji Yong Lee), despite the fact neither speaks the other’s native language or English, and is thoroughly creeped out by it.

Meanwhile, Olivia Allan (Samara Weaving) is the biggest star in the land, as well as head of her own production company. She’s not necessarily a bad person, but the multifold pressures on her — including a new biopic about Amelia Earhart coming out — tend to lead to neurotic outbursts, many aimed at her assistant (Tiana Okoye). She’s also involved in a secret romance with Vincent Royce (Max Greenfield), a charismatic cad married to a billionaire (Betsy Brandt) whose father built the real estate empire he now runs.

The movie has a lot of insight on the daily life of celebrities, how they’re hunted by paparazzi everywhere they go and can never be invisible. Meanwhile, people like Antonio are stuck being unseen, handed keys by a parade of entitled rich folks who don’t even bother to make eye contact.

One night while fetching his mother’s medicine, Antonio crashes into the car that Olivia was using as the getaway from her latest tryst. The photographers catch an image of the three of them in a confused tussle, and Vincent’s wife threatens to divorce him. He and his lawyer hatch a plan to make it seem that she’s actually having the affair with Antonio.

He agrees to do it for $12,850 — which is how much Isabel needs for her college tuition. Olivia goes along because she needs to protect her image as a strong, independent woman who doesn’t sleep with married men.

Soon they’re going out on the town together, having lunches while everyone stares, walking red carpets, and so on. Olivia works her acting magic, making everyone believe she’s in love with a middle-aged Mexican-American valet.

Now, in a normal romcom they would eventually realize they actually are madly in love. I won’t spoil anything, other than to say a relationship does organically grow into something wonderful, though probably not what we might expect. I was glad to see Antonio not being a pushover like Hugh Grant was in “Notting Hill,” and actually stands up for himself and pushes back against Olivia’s privileged presumptions.

There’s a hilarious and touching scene where she crashes at Antonio’s apartment after her big premiere, and wakes up to find his entire family, and Mr. Kim’s, and a few other random neighbors assembled to meet the big star. Olivia, who’s been starving herself for her debut, chows down on a traditional Mexican breakfast and discovers that she has everything in the world except true bonds of affection and fellowship.

It’s also fun seeing Antonio become something of a media sensation himself, celebrated by the immigrant and working-class folks who are thrilled to see one of their own romancing the proverbial princess.

The story even occupies a subplot with a pair of private detectives (Ravi Patel and John Pirruccello) who are tailing the ersatz couple to verify it’s legit. Actually, one is working for Vincent and the other for Betsy, though I forget which, and they join forces at one point. Both are rather miserable living out of their cars, commiserate on who has the best takeout falafel, etc., and eventually something like a friendship starts to grow.

The theme of “The Valet” is that most people are inherently decent and care about each other, but we let societal divides dictate who we will interact with and who gets pushed aside. There are wolves like Vincent, who wants to tear down the quaint family shops that line Antonio’s neighborhood and replace them with yet another gentrified apartment skyscraper. But they’re the exception, not the rule.

There are also a lot of jokes and observations about Latino culture and how it fits in with a famously diverse city where whites still rule the roost. All this is done in a positive, let’s-talk-and-laugh-about-this tone, rather than with spit-flecked vitriol. Carrots and sticks, folks.

Derbez and Weaving make for a thoroughly charming not-couple, two incredibly different people thrown together who find they have things in common worth sharing that they normally never would. “The Valet” is funny, smart, thoughtful and the cinematic equivalent of a warm, enveloping hug.