Good concept, poorly executed.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

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

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Chris (Christian Bale) lives a pleasant life with his wife Marion (Emily Watson). In his younger days, he was restless with his delinquent friend Toni (Lee Ross). While he escaped to Paris, Toni traveled around the world. Now Toni is back and is dismayed at Chris' ordinary lifestyle. He tries to free Chris from the grips of Metroland, and Chris starts to doubt his life with Marion. The movie also flashes back to Chris' life in Paris where he meets french girlfriend Annick (Elsa Zylberstein) and eventually Marion.I love both Christian Bale and Emily Watson. They have done more exciting work elsewhere. Emily is doing a very quiet saintly character. Lee Ross is at least exciting as an absolute douche. I like Christian Bale's struggle. However the past story in Paris is rather slow and provide little drama. The flashback could easily be cut in half. The movie could do well with more of Toni's debaucherous world travels. At least that would add more color to this bland movie. The movie starts with a wish for something darker or more exciting, but ends with something much too ordinary.

Based on the novel by Julian Barnes and directed by Philip Saville (Masterpiece Theatre's The Buccaneers, The Life and Loves of a She-Devil miniseries), Metroland is a charming little British movie. It's a character study of Chris, played by Christian Bale (American Psycho, Batman Begins, Rescue Dawn), in an early role that is a nice change of pace for him. Bale captures this sweet, geeky, funny every-man character brilliantly. In 1977, now a married man with a baby girl, Chris lives in the suburb of Metroland, his hometown, where he vowed as a teenager that he would leave and never return. Every working day he takes the mass transit rail out of the suburb to London to his job at an advertising agency. He wanted to be a globe-trotting photographer, but settled for this. Chris seems content with his life, but when his ne'er-do-well chum Toni, played by Lee Ross (Secrets and Lies), shows up, Chris has a midlife crisis, albeit a young midlife crisis. Toni's appearance brings back the memories of his carefree life before marriage and responsibility: during the 1960s, when he lives in Paris, takes photographs, and has his first serious girlfriend, Annick (Elsa Zylberstein). Bale plays a naive, love sick man to Annick's worldly, sexy French woman. They start an intense sexual affair, and Chris is quite smitten with Annick until he meets Marion—all decked out in go-go boots, liquid eyeliner, and a That-Girl hair flip. Chris is attracted to Marion mainly because she can see through some of his foolishness. In one conversation between the two—reminiscent of It's a Wonderful Life, in which James Stewart informs Donna Reed that he doesn't want to marry or have kids, but then gleefully gives in, kissing Reed—, Chris tells Marion that he wants to stay on in Paris and doesn't want to get married and have children. Marion cruelly replies, "You're not original enough to." Chris reconsiders his relationship with Annick, who he has nothing in common with—only lust. And he chooses Marion. In one of many funny scenes, Chris is in bed with his wife, Marion, played by Emily Watson (Breaking the Waves, Hilary and Jackie, The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep). He starts kissing her sweetly, but she is too tired for that. He says to her, "I can't remember the last time." "Yesterday morning," she replies. Then he says, "Yeah, we used to do it three times a day." She says, "It only happened once, and you complained about being sore a week afterwards." He smiles and replies, "Sore, but very smug." This changes Marion's mind, but they are soon interrupted by their daughter's cry--such is the life of a family man. During Toni's visit, Marion makes her dislike for him clear to Chris who defends his lifelong friend. Toni is bound and determined to lead Chris astray, so that Toni can prove to himself that he made the right decision not to settle down. Toni plays his part well as the devil on Chris' shoulder. At his party, Tony convinces one of his free minded girlfriends to give Chris a shag. Just as Chris is considering consummation, he imagines Marion being carried away in an ambulance. When Toni happens to pass by the room, Chris realizes that Toni put her up to it—and is insulted and leaves. It shows how even the closest, longest friendships can die in adulthood when people choose to go down different paths. Later Chris suspects something happened between Marion and Toni, and he gets into fisticuffs with Toni. Marion tells Chris that he made a pass at her; she was somewhat tempted, but refused. As Toni gets ready to leave town, Chris and he make up somewhat half-heartedly. While taking a bath together, Chris tells Marion about the girl at Toni's party who he nearly slept with, and, of course, Marion has an ongoing joke of telling Chris to go ahead and have an affair. Marion then reveals to Chris she had a one night stand long ago and tells him that it won't happen again. We don't know if this is true, or if Marion is only trying to spice things up—because as a result of her confession, they have passionate sex. And afterwards she kids him about having sex with the girl at the party.Christian Bale's mutton chops and flared collars and pants legs give the movie a real retro feel. Bale has some great comedic moments here. In one of two very good scenes, Toni takes Chris to a punk rock concert, but Chris hates punk and only tolerates it by getting drunk and stoned. Chris comes home quite randy and keeps trying to pull Marion down on the bed in his inebriated state. The other scene is Chris' first date with Annick in which he conspicuously kisses her—and pulls her into bed awkwardly. The female characters teeter on being stereotypical. Annick and Marion are the archetype of the all-knowing, all-beautiful, all-witty woman to the archetype of Chris as the bumbling, sex obsessed male. Emily Watson's performance elevates Marion's character, so she doesn't turn into a shrew—we can sympathize with her as Chris shuts her out as he daydreams about his glory days of youth. We also feel sympathy towards Annick as she goes from being the experienced one in the relationship to being the needy and jealous one as Chris matures. I describe Metroland as a British cozy romantic dramedy—if such a thing exists. Some memorable scenes and some funny moments make the film worthwhile. As does the good acting between Bale and Watson, who make it more than a forgettable flick. Bale and Watson have good chemistry and repeat that again in the 2002 Sci-Fi cult classic, Equilibrium. Metroland is a movie you rarely see now: a movie that deals intelligently and realistically with themes of adulthood.

"everybody out there knows how I feel about the brilliant Emily Watson" Do they? Are you the most famous man in the world, or something? Perhaps you are in fact God, a status belied by your appalling typing skills. Or else you suffer from an unparalled case of egotism, in which case, you should consider therapy as a matter of some urgency.I liked this film. It's the first of Bale's adult acting career. His portrayal of a man who is no longer young, yet not quite middle-aged, is intelligent and textured. Emily Watson delivers a subtly understated and beguiling performance as his wife. As a discussion of the process of growing older, and the changing relationships and sense of loss that this entails, Metroland is an absorbing and entertaining film.

When the titles of METROLAND started it instantly reminded me of the Rachel Weisz black comedy BEAUTIFUL CREATURES which had been on the previous night. The title sequences were so similar it was uncanny as the camera travels along a rail track to a hypnotic beat . Mind you if I remember correctly things actually happened in BEAUTIFUL CREATURES , hardly anything happens in METROLAND I think this problem isn`t helped by the fact there`s some French input to this movie , yes despite it being set in middle England METROLAND is an Anglo-French co-production not a very succesful combination at the best of times and even a bigger failure where film making is concerned . You see the French gave the world the concept of film study and analysis which means a French critic or a French audience will be able to strip away the veneer of what`s on screen and draw their own conclusions as to what the story is really about - An English speaking audience won`t which means this critic here can only see a slow moving romantic comedy with a very episodic nature. Have you ever been invited to a dinner party where all the guests know each very well and just talk amongst themselves making you feel very left out ? That`s how I felt watching METROLAND , and couldn`t help thinking it might have been far better if the story had been set in Paris with an entirely French cast