A trilogy of soulful rom-coms finishes with “Chinese Puzzle,” which brings to New York the Euro-kids of “L’Auberge Espagnole” (2002) who stumbled into maturity in “Russian Dolls” (2005).
Novelist Xavier (Romain Duris) has been dumped by his wife (Kelly Reilly), who moved to New York from France with the kids. So he moves in with a friend (Cécile de France), who is living with her female lover and would like Xavier to be the surrogate father of their child. Meanwhile, as Xavier marries a stranger to get a visa, another ex (Audrey Tautou) shows up for a visit.
Cédric Klapisch’s film is meandering and cutesy, but his characters are endearing and every so often he comes up with a deft insight, such as how this city’s streets are like a flayed zombie.