by Hudson Moura
Philippe Mechelen’s The Rookie Guide (Le Routard) turns the famed travel brand into a buoyant meta-comedy: Yan Tatin (a winning everyman played by comedian Hakim Jemili) lands a probationary gig auditing reader complaints for the guidebook and is dispatched to Marrakech, where he promptly breaks the industry’s cardinal rule—revealing his identity. The conceit is playful and efficient: each site visit doubles as both inspection and set-piece, while phone check-ins with his boss (a breezily cantankerous Christian Clavier) cut to the patron jetting through other time zones, puncturing any fantasy that travel writing is pure romance. Tonally, the film lives where light adventure meets workplace farce, and it rarely pretends to be more.
What nudges the plot beyond anecdote is a caper hook: Hakim stumbles into the theft of a historical regional map—heritage as MacGuffin—and finds a purpose larger than rating tea glasses and riad linens. The ensemble leans into caricature with charm: Michel Blanc brings his signature deadpan (and, heartbreakingly, it’s his final role), Alice Taglioni as luminous foil, Fred Testot adding elastic reactions; each sketches a comic type without grinding the tempo. Mechelen shoots Marrakech and the desert like postcards—saturated colors, convivial bustle, desert horizons—so that movement through the city has its own narrative logic: alleys lead to jokes, souks to reveals. It’s unabashedly touristic cinema, but knowingly so; the brand synergy is a feature, not a bug.
The comedy is gentle rather than biting—situational mix-ups, identity slips, and running gags tied to the “mystique” of anonymous guide inspectors. When the script gestures at an ethics of travel (authenticity, responsibility, heritage protection), it does so in passing; the film prefers good humour, momentum, and likable foibles over critique. That choice keeps the experience frictionless, but also limits depth: the stolen-map intrigue resolves neatly, cultural textures are painted with a broad, friendly brush, and stakes remain comfortingly low.
As divertissement, however, it lands: well-paced, warmly performed by Jemilli and Clavier, and easy to savor. If you expect satirical bite or investigative grit, you’ll find a confection; if you want a sunny caper with brand-aware winks, postcard vistas, and a cast enjoying themselves, Le Routard is exactly that—a pleasant guide to a good time, stamped and ready. 
Rating: 3.2/5
The film will be screened at Cinéfranco: Francophone International Film Festival 