Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

This is the type of film that makes you question your past admiration for a particular director before you stop and remind yourself that there are very few people whose body of work doesn't contain a few clunkers.The casting in Lelouch's films is of utmost importance because he puts the viewer into such intimacy with the characters. The actors have to bring real screen magic to live up to the intensity. Otherwise it is just hollow. None of the actors in this film had any of that screen magic, in my opinion.Jeremy Irons and Patricia Kaas fell far short as the leads. Irons is a talented actor but he was wrong for this part. Lovable rogue didn't suit his strengths. His brand of charm also hit a false note for me here. Iron's persona is too decadence-tinged to fit into a Lelouch love story.Although I would hesitate to pass up any opportunity to hear an English accent, I also think an American actor would have worked better in this role. So many of the songs that Kaas sings are so closely identified with the Americanness of the particular lyricist that it seemed kind of discordant to then have Jeremy Irons playing the love interest -- even though logically it really didn't matter. It still screwed up the flow of the movie somehow. At least for me.Of course, it would have had to have been the right American. I think George Clooney would have been great in the part. And he would have brought the screen magic in spades. Brad Pitt could also have done a really good job delivering his particular combination of charming and edgy.I was also very disappointed with Patricia Kaas. In reading about her, I've learned that she has a hugely successful career as a singer and many fans, so what do I know, but I found her screen presence as a singer very boring. She was actually a much better actress in her speaking scenes than she was a singer in those scenes in which she had to interpret and sell a song. Nothing she sang moved me. She was pleasant but bland.In contrast, someone like Kate Hudson, who is not a professional singer and has only voice-coach French still would have handled this part a million times better. Not to mention all that stunning French talent out there that could have been tapped into. It was wrenching watching Patricia Kaas take up screen space when there are so many charismatic French actresses who could have been cast instead. The music was so important in this film, it could not really work without the music working. And since Kaas delivered so poorly in this respect, the movie never really had a chance.Lelouch sealed the fate of this movie when he cast Patricia Kaas. JMO.

The film is about a man and a woman who are losing their memory after an emotional trauma. You will discover this in your own time, the important is Claude Lelouch is a celebrated French director but unfortunately in the US he is part of the Indie crowd, "artistic French movie, get drunk before watching", which is a most unfair statement.Because his films are too often shot in French, he is blocked by the invisible subtitle wall for 90% of US audiences. With "And now... Ladies and Gentlemen" he directs a very good Jeremy Irons and a very talented Patricia Kaas, in English s'il vous plait.The basics of Lelouch style (broken time line and multiple threads) are there, but in a softer way than in most of his films, which makes this film a very nice "My First Lelouch" for audiences who are looking for more talented scripts and emotion than your prepacked Hollywood brew. Patricia Kaas delivers a performance in acting and singing (the soundtrack is her album "Piano Bar", a tribute to Lounge music).

These comments will contain some SPOILERS, so please consider whether you want to read this. Jeremy Irons is Valentin Valentin, a career thief, with some inventive ways. In the opening scene we see him entering a jewelry store, identifying himself as an authority, tells the owner they are on the track of an elusive thief, shows him a photo of an older man, says to give him whatever he wants and let him leave, a virtual army would be outside to arrest him. In old man disguise, he re-enters a bit later, takes all the good jewelry, then disappears to the consternation of the owner. Later he buys a sail boat (named 'Ladies and Gentlemen', thus the name of the movie) and starts for a round-the-world sailing trip.Then we see French actress Patricia Kaas as Jane Lester, lounge singer who travels to find new work. We sense something is wrong. Later she and Valentin meet up, because they suffer the same malady, the get headaches and occasional blackouts. They end up seeing the same doctor in some third-world country, and the doctor's twin brother, also a doctor with a CT scanning machine, to treat their illnesses. Jane makes a pilgrimage to the top of a mountain at the gravesite of a mysterious woman. While Valentin apparently has surgery for a brain tumor. Much of the interest of the movie is the film editing. The story is not always told linearly, and some of the things we see turn out to be dreams. In one, Valentin is seen going back to the jeweler he robbed in the first scene, telling him he was sorry and wanted to pay him back, the cops are outside pounding on the windows to get in, Valentin begins to say "Don't worry, this is only a dream", then in a few seconds we see him wake up.

If you are in the market for a thoroughly original film - an all-engulfing mind-blowing experience that will enthrall you from the (stunning and hilarious) opening sequence and take you on a dazzling cinematic journey the likes of which you have never taken before (and quite possibly might never take again), get yourself to one of the 3 theatres in Los Angeles that is currently playing "And Now...Ladies and Gentlemen" and settle in for an exquisitely sublime treat. Jeremy-incapable-of-giving-a-less-than-brilliant-performance-Irons is magnificently in his element here as jewel thief extraordinaire Valentin Valentin, and Patricia Kaas, making a thrilling movie debut, is a complete revelation as singer Jane Lester. They both need something in their lives that they're not finding, until they find each other, in Claude Lelouch's masterfully written and directed story of regret, desire and ultimate redemption. This is possibly Irons' best performance of his career thus far, worthy of another Oscar nomination at the very least.