Read My Lips has one problem in that its protagonist, Carla (Emmanuelle Devos), is supposed to be a deaf, desperate, and plain-looking office worker who everyone feels sorry for. Though she's dressed in frumpy clothes through most of the movie, Carla is attractive even by French film standards. The constant insults about her looks from friend and stranger alike are unbelievable. Other than that, Read My Lips is medium-paced thriller that gets more and more involving as Carla's edgy work and crime relationship with Paul (Vincent Cassel) involves a robbery scam. What she anticipates is going to be a date turns out to be anything but. A side plot about Paul's parole officer whose wife is missing serves only as a distraction from the story. However, Cassel's performance is dead-on as the lowlife, small-time crook with little in the way of charm.