Picture Credit: Netflix
After a splashy premiere a couple of weeks ago in Angoulême and an even bigger Parisian premiere, the Call My Agent! movie is finally hitting globally on Netflix, in what looks like the highlight for the French 2026 lineup. But does the return of creator Fanny Herrero at the helm transform this successful series into a brilliant movie? Here is our take — with no commission fee.
At its core, Call My Agent! has always been a story of resilience in the face of personal and professional events threatening to swallow their characters whole. Which is why, at the end of its fourth — and final — season, when rival agent Elise (Anne Marivin) joined the ranks of agency ASK to solve financial problems only to successfully torpedo it from the inside, it left a sour note with viewers. The final sequence, with all the core characters talking about their possible future around a last drink, led to a five-year development hell. Now, creator Fanny Herrero has been called back to develop this reunion movie — with co-writer Lison Daniel and director Émilie Noblet, where all the main characters are back and with a strong hook: former ASK agent Andréa Martel (Camille Cottin) is a couple of weeks away from shooting her first movie as writer and director, with a star-studded cast including Laurent Lafitte and Laetitia Casta. But the perfect storm will soon crumble, as Laurent Lafitte drops out for scheduling issues, while Andréa spent five years perfecting the role for him.
The original show always had to strike a balance between vaudeville comedy, usually through piercing observations from reckless agent Hervé (Nicolas Maury) and the signature deadpan snark of Camille Cottin as Andréa; tumultuous and passionate lives — embodied by the affair between Mathias (Thibault de Montalembert) and Noémie (Laure Calamy); and managing an unpredictable movie industry and the quirks and demands of the stars ASK represented. All of these ingredients were explosive, and threatened to blow up in the show’s face at any moment… and they sometimes did, depending on the arc. But the show is back on its feet and Herrero manages to go the distance during the two hours by offering a concentrated version of what the show and the characters are capable of. For better or worse, she does that by sidelining the ensemble and focusing on two opposite characters having to team up: Andréa, whose battles and visible exhaustion will only strengthen her resolve and determination; and Noémie, the professional but eternally optimistic and passionate line producer, who pitches herself to save Andréa’s movie.
Where does the movie go from here, plot-wise? It’s a mixed bag, and one we shall not spoil heavily. Suffice it to say, through an unhappy coincidence, replacement lead Vincent Macaigne (bringing his hilarious tone and character to the movie, in an environment that may expose one of the finest French talents to a new global audience) has more than his fair share of gripes with co-lead Laetitia Casta. From there, Call My Agent! The Movie embarks into a spiral of “nightmare shoot” sequences, which are sometimes amusing but are overall a letdown; it also throws a few side twists Noémie’s way in very brutal fashion. If Andréa’s character is stretched to the limit, Laure Calamy‘s natural charisma and adept delivery have trouble selling where Noémie goes when she is on the ropes.
But when the imperfections for spectacle’s sake threaten to derail the project into the territory of abhorrent Entourage/Sex & The City movies, Call My Agent! relies on its MVPs to center its feel-good core. Behind the camera, they are composers Loïc Dury and Christophe Minck, who lend groovy cues and familiar themes to the project, including a soaring cinematic version of the theme song. Newcomer to the show Émilie Noblet gets into the dialogue-heavy pace of Call My Agent! rather smoothly, and shines discreetly through a few glamorous sequences and a warmer color palette for the (mostly) Paris-based plot. And finally, we have Hervé (Nicolas Maury), whose introduction may serve as the funniest, fourth-wall-breaking moment of the entire movie; and veteran agent Arlette. As such, Liliane Rovère gives the most emotional performance of the movie — and possibly its biggest reveal, which we shall not spoil. As Andréa and Noémie show character growth, the ensemble still makes Call My Agent! land on its feet, while it is not above cutting corners or going into cartoonish tones.
MVP
Cr: Christophe Brachet/Netflix
Laure Calamy
It is a bit hard to have a character that comical and evolve it into a ruthless, focused professional, but Laure Calamy has managed to do it over the course of the original series. Now, as Noémie plays firefighter for a sailing project and tries to make amends with an Andréa who is notoriously prickly, Calamy infuses her all into this new, improved Noémie, showing character growth. Granted, some of her reactions and side quests may veer too far into cartoon, but Calamy shows why she became one of the most in-demand actresses in French cinema since the end of the show.
Verdict
Celebrity cameos and shortcuts be damned, Call My Agent! is nothing without its ensemble. And here, it makes hay of the snappy dialogue and ridiculous circumstances like seasoned pros; even if some reduced roles and paper-thin tropes remain questionable, there is still a lot of life as Andréa Martel steps into the limelight. And, as recently teased by the producers, this may be the start of another era, should Netflix subscribers demand it.
