Excellent, Without a doubt!!

The acting in this movie is really good.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

I saw this movie when I was thirteen when it first came out...and, I loved it!For a love-sick teenage boy who loved girls his age, this movie was a fascination to me - a boy and a girl who are my age and in love running away together from France to Italy (Venice) and finding truth in a tall-tale told to them by a friendly and lonely, but, shady, old man (played by the iconic Laurence Olivier) who is full of tall-tales of adventure; intrigue; excitement; and, 'alotta' romance!To me as a young teen, this was the most romantic movie I'd ever seen; and, like most teenage boys, I thought "why can't that happen to me?" Like in this movie, I, and, most boys my age, would have risked everything to run-off with a girl whom they were in love with. As an older teen, I got into a lot of trouble bringing girls home late; sometimes even an entire weekend late, like in this movie.This movie had a real impression upon me.Who would have guessed that the 'introduced' beautiful girl in this movie would have grown up to be the super-star beautiful woman she is now - Diane Lane? I really like this movie, for a variety of reasons, and, I'm sure that any young boy who respects girls and wants 'a little romance' would agree! :)The ending of this movie, especially the freeze-frame, along with the lovely music, truly broke my heart.

I missed this picture the first time it aired on TCM a few months ago. Loved all the on-location European filming. Not sure how I felt about Olivier's performance-- it seemed a bit clichéd, too mannered in places. I think what we get with him is someone who decides when he reads the script how he is going to play it. It's all worked out in his mind before he even steps in front of the cameras. The problem is that his instincts are not always correct and he does not adjust or improvise on the fly. So if everyone else is growing in their performances, and he is not-- if he loses spontaneity, then his acting starts to look too old-fashioned. In a film like A LITTLE ROMANCE, it is more noticeable that he is working opposite very young costars with very young energy if they are soaring and he is just standing still. In sharp contrast to this, we have Broderick Crawford in scenes that seem a lot more natural and accommodating to the younger costars.

In the introduction to this film on Turner Classic Movies, host Robert Osbourne described this as a charming film. Also, I noticed that every review on IMDb I read liked the film as well. However, much of the charm was lost on me--mostly because the film seemed to sexualize kids. The stars were apparently 14 when they made it, but they look much younger. And so, when they talk about sex, it sure made me feel a bit uneasy--particularly when one boy was talking about how excited he was about his sister's large breasts. Now I am not against the idea of two young people falling for each other--but this film too often talks about sex instead of allowing the film to be charming. In addition, the two go off on a hair-brained adventure with a creepy old man--one who COULD be a sex offender, serial killer or telemarketer! Lauren (Diane Lane) and Daniel (Thelonious Bernard) are young folks who meet in Paris. She's an American living with her annoying mother and her step-father. He's a cinema buff who lives with his dad. Despite coming from different cultures, they hit it off immediately and become good friends. However, when Lauren introduces Daniel to her parents, things do NOT go well and Lauren is told she cannot see him again--so she does the logical next step and runs away to Venice with him. However, they cannot get over the border by themselves because of their age, so they enlist the help of a creepy old man (Laurence Olivier) who agrees amazingly quickly to help them with their scheme.While there are some nice performances in this film, I couldn't help but think like a parent and think how insanely stupid these two kids were. And, how pretentious they were as they talked about philosophy. Most others were charmed--I just wanted to smack them! As for the mother (Sally Kellerman), her character was inconsistent--having been married several times and befriending a lot of bohemian actors YET she was so easily scared of allowing her daughter to spend time with Daniel. Odd, that's for sure. It's obvious that I didn't like the film--mostly because the script was chock full of holes and creepy vignettes. It's not inconceivable that two dumb 13 year-olds could run away but beyond that, it just didn't work for me and I was not impressed.By the way, the notion of two odd kids running off together COULD work. After all, I DID like "Moonrise Kingdom"--probably because it avoided overtly sexualizing the kids and had no creepy old man. Drop the creepy old guy, talk about sex less and make the film fun--then it could work.

I found this a really enjoyable movie, about two children (about 13 years old?) finding a romantic friendship, and seeking the help of an older man to fulfil a dream that required them to overcome a number of obstacles. It is the childlike simplicity of the story and of their relationship that appeals.Unfortunately Olivier was disappointing, despite his reputation as an actor. He was quite unable to play the part of an elderly Frenchman. He was certainly doddery enough, but seemed very unsure of his role, and often did not speak his part clearly. I suspect that putting on a convincing french accent was not one of his greatest talents.Ken