A Disappointing Continuation

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

A romantic drama / occasional comedy about a couple returning to Paris to celebrate their 30th anniversary. Disappointment, disillusionment, discontent from Meg about her marriage and essentially her life. During the course of the weekend they both learn to live more honestly and freely, helping Meg realise that she can perhaps live the life she craves with her husband of 30 years ...

My wife's son recommended this film to us at lunch yesterday, saying it's quirky, it's funny, it's sad, a delight, in short. I should have remembered that ten years or so ago, Jonathon was telling his mum and me that the new live-action "Scooby Doo" movie was the best film ever. At least then he was only 10 or so. If I had my choice today, I think I'd take old Scoob anytime.This film is such twaddling nonsense. An ageing Brummie intellectual couple who grew up in the 60's return to Paris, the scene of their honeymoon years before to have a time, get over some recent disappointments and perhaps rekindle their marriage. Over the course of the weekend they will run out of a swanky restaurant without paying, visit the graveyard of Beckett and Sartre, hook up with an outre old American college friend of the male, deliver embarrassingly candid speeches of self-hate and adoration at dinner in front of strangers and finish up by doing a funky dance routine in a little café after they have their passports confiscated for welching on their hotel bill. Pretentious ils?Speaking mostly in sentences with language and phrases used by I'd imagine about 1% of the population, the film touched almost new depths of inanity, boredom and irritation for me. Maybe the director thought he was being clever in giving us a sophisticated, Paris-set witty French comedy of the sexes with the twist of two sexagenerian not-so-innocent English tourists abroad. Clever, never. I also got nothing from the acting of leads Broadbent and Duncan and as for Jeff Goldblum's camp American friend, quel dommage! The soundtrack of cool jazz, mixed up with Nick Drake only put even more distance between me and what I was watching.I didn't smile, never mind laugh during the whole film, I only winced and wished for it to end, which it didn't soon enough. And as for the next time Jonathon tells me to look out for a film, include me out!

My good spouse of many years said at the end, "If we ever go to Paris, let's watch a different movie about it first." What a disappointment. Every line of sarcastic, cynical, needy character-non-development went nowhere. Watching two good actors work so hard from start to finish to portray shallow one-dimensional people clawing at each other for validation and appreciation -- consistently either denied or bestowed and later betrayed -- was soul-numbing. We viewers learned that every possible opening for relational connection -- i.e., every chance that we might care about these narcissistic people -- would become just another set-up for recurrent emotional abandonment."This was written by a guy." I forget which one of us spoke the obvious out loud after the first ten minutes.I found the most interesting characters in the film were the clever hotel security guys, who could think ahead enough to block the escape of these lying, cheating, empty, 60-something preschoolers. I wished the movie would have followed one of the security guys home and given us a story about a thinking human being with a learning curve.A positive? Some of the views of Paris were enjoyable.But for the rest of it, a horror-movie Ugh.

Well acted and poignant at times, this movie just missed out on being great because it is too slow. Sure, I realise it's a slow burn, a noir, all that but, at the risk of repeating myself, it was just too damn slow! And, worse, no resolution. Goldblum is again great, I just wish his part had done something of substance rather than just seem lofty. Likewise the female lead whose terrific performance was marred by the writer's determination to paint her as a bitch (or at least almost). The lead actor is terrific as he always is, and that's the problem with him. He's the same as he always is. There's little originality here and he comes across as a (very) poor man's 'Lost in Translation'. Terrific cast, great idea,disappointing.