If the first film, released in 1996, was a great success, this was not the case for its sequel, which was a flop upon its release. Worse, he is even one of the most hated in the world.
After the success of Soft pedal in 1996, currently available on the Paramount+ streaming platform, a sequel was released in 2004. It is Hard pedal. Two films in which Michèle Laroque plays the role of Marie. For this sequel, the actress plays opposite Dany Boon, Gérard Darmon, Jacques Dutronc but also Dominique Besnehard. In Hard Pedal, Loïc and Seb are a couple and are based in the Marais. Owner of the neighborhood’s most popular nightclub, Loïc will soon become a father. The latter donated sperm and it is thanks to in vitro fertilization that he will make his dream come true. And it is Marie who will give them this beautiful gift. The problem is that during her pregnancy, she will fall in love with a man named Charles. The couple of men are then afraid of seeing their friend leave with their child…
Hard pedal : only 420,000 box office entries
At the time of its cinema release, Hard pedal did not meet with the expected success. While its predecessor made 4 million admissions at the box office in France, this is not at all the case for this sequel. Hard pedal has painfully exceeded 420,000 cinema admissions… And in the United States too, it’s not really better. The film directed by Gabriel Aghion is, for example, very poorly rated on the IMDb site which lists the opinions of Internet users. It only gets a rating of 2.4/10!
The rest under this advertisement
Hard pedal : a sequel that isn’t really one
If the history of Hard pedal has strong similarities with Soft pedalnotably with the presence of the character of Marie, it is not really a direct sequel. Besides, originally, this film was not supposed to be called that. Basically, Hard pedal should have the name: Soft pedal 3: they’re so crazy they forgot to do 2! The director, for his part, made it known that this second film was still very different from the first, in particular because Hard Pedal explore much more “developments in society and homosexuality.”
Article written with the collaboration of 6Medias
