the audience applauded

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

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.

I suppose this should be classified as a 'chick flick' because it is about a 30-something woman attempting to find herself in New York, written and directed by a woman. It moves a bit slowly most of the way but I found it interesting. An interesting character study.Parker Posey, who often plays goofy characters, is the serious character here, Nora Wilder. She works in a small Manhattan hotel, apparently enjoying her job, but seems a bit bored by it all. And, she doesn't have a guy in her life. We know that she wants one, but she usually ends up getting involved quickly with the wrong types, and she ends up sadder than she was before.The script illustrates one of these. She meets an actor in town, staying at the hotel, and has a quick fling with him. He seems sincere enough, and she begins to tell friends that she and he are an item. About that time they see him being interviewed on TV, talking about his great girl he is in town to see. Not Nora, but some actress.The main of the story occurs when a French man shows up, asks her out, but she has been burnt too many times and is very reluctant. Posey does a good job as Nora Wilder in this movie.Spoilers: After a short, good time with the French man he has to leave to go back to Paris. Nora is hurt, but he asks her to go with him. She can't she has a job after all, and duties, she can't just leave! But he gives her is contact information in case she ever gets to Paris. Soon she decides to go, and contact him, right after she got fed up with her job and her boss and quit. But once she got to Paris she discovered she had lost his contact information. Staying in Paris a while she had a good time, met some interesting people, then was headed for the airport. She meets him on the train, they get off, the movie ends with him saying "You know you'll miss your flight." She says "I know."

This movie was understated and may seem slow to some, but if you are able to understand the subtlety of Parker Posey's facial expressions, will you understand the journey of the movie. The French actor did a remarkable job at being real, interested, while avoid the stereotypical European romantic. His role was solid and his confidence greatly contrasted Parker Posey, whose role was a passage of the female soul during moments of indecision and self-doubt. To me, and to anyone who has had a similar experience, the movie holds great weight. I also was partial to the film's soundtrack, which features a great song by Soundtrack and Scratch Massive. It adds to the movie and to its subtle introspection.

This film is a shallow treatise on the problems of locating love for a young woman in the city. The main character is self-centered, and yet seems to have no real interests. She is desperately looking for someone to love her in order to save her from herself. She is not really interested in other people, only in their ability to "love" her, even if they are assholes and total strangers. The movie takes the position that her attitude is normal, and in doing so misses an opportunity to be interesting. The movie fails to make an assessment about the existential problems of the character, or to question her myopic vision and lack of center and dignity. The film, like its characters, is a surface without a center, and ends up being mainstream, shallow, hollow, and sentimental. It's no wonder that's it's safe for audiences today, for it reinforces the popular idea that women are dependent on men for their happiness and to fill a hole or void. The film is indeed a fairy tale, for a woman who behaves like a depressed, mopey, self-hating dishrag all of the time would be very lucky to find a man to love her.

I like Parker Posey, she is obviously a talented actress and (I like to fantasize) chooses a lot of roles in indie films. This movie is obviously something that meant a lot to the writer/director, because it is both detailed and nonlinear. However, I did not find it really interesting. Maybe because I am a guy and I am not American.The story is about a neurotic New York woman, desperate to find true love, and finally stumbling on it by accident with a French guy. Their romance is not everything that happens in the film, though. You have to spend a lot of time following her failed relationships, both sentimental and at work, her pushy mother, the failing marriage of her best friend and a lot of other stuff. As a "life movie" how my parents called this kind of stories, it makes a good one, but not much of an attractive one. Or maybe I just didn't empathize with anyone in it.Bottom line: solid direction and acting, but quite a bore of a script. Women might enjoy it more, but judging by the reaction of my wife, it takes a bit more than just gender.