Pretty Good

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

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.

Just saw this movie on TV (which is why my review is a bit overdo, I suppose)! It is so funny!!!!! Yes, it's cheesy and over-the-top at times, but overall, this is a very amusing - not to mention, a very cute and touching film! I would recommend this movie to anyone - however, I would bet that slightly older people MAY find it funnier. Although, my teenage daughter thought it was hysterical, as well.This movie is never boring, which in my book, is the biggest compliment one can give a movie. You are taken on a ride of mishaps through New York city, where non-stop hilarity ensues.John Cleese, as the manager of the motel, is a riot! He does one thing in this movie that really cracked my daughter up.This movie is intelligently written - very clever and witty with it's jokes - a "smart person's comedy" (something that is in short supply these days). No, there is not a lot of sex and violence - although, there are some very funny incidents which are sexual in nature, so I would not recommend this movie for a younger child.Without giving anything away, the ending is so beautifully touching that it may even bring tears to your eyes. This is just a basic "feel good movie," there's no other way to put it! And yes, after watching this remake version, I tracked down the original version. I definitely think this remake is far funnier. (I actually found the original to be a bit tedious! You may be able to find this movie in a 5 dollar bin by now. I say: buy it!!! This is the sort of comedy you will enjoy watching over and over again, and it will never get old.

Look at the pedigree behind this film. It's based on a play by Neil Simon (The Odd Couple), it was written by Marc Lawrence (Music and Lyrics) and stars Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn. It should have been a huge hit.In fact it's a lousy film. Thin characters doing clearly irrational things. Martin brings likability to every role he plays, but here he's floundering. Goldie Hawn acts as his straight man well, but she's underused.And then along comes John Cleese. Now, I don't find him that funny at the best of times, but when he's clearly playing another Basil Fawlty type role it's even worse.A poor film.

Goldie Hawn is a wonderful comedy actress; Steve Martin is a wonderful comedy actor; Neil Simon is a wonderful comedy writer; and New York City is a wonderful place to use as a setting for a movie. Yet, this movie is a clunker; it's as flat as a pancake, and an overcooked one at that. Although certain scenes do provoke a laugh, in general this movie simply is not funny. The story is a pure Hollywood comedy potboiler, that is, a formula movie and a poor retread of the 1970 original, which itself wasn't the funniest movie either, but that's for another review. The idea of everything going wrong during a trip is nothing new, but if properly treated it can produce laughs. But in this movie the things that go wrong are so absurd and contrived that the laughs are lost. What happens to the Clarks would not and could not happen to anyone else, hence the movie becomes irrelevant to the audience and loses its meaning as a satire or parody. John Cleese provides some humor as the hotel manager but his presence is limited and in no way comes close to rescuing this movie from its essential banality.

One comedy that is so American that you may have problems sleeping afterwards because of the jaw pain you will get due to too much laughing. I would advise you to take some kind of Prozac before not to be too much overwhelmed by the silly situations this film develops with gusto and vicious pleasure. The poor people from Ohio do not have one gram or one 176th part of an ounce of luck when they come to New York for a job interview. The plane is out-routed, nearly out-sourced, their deluxe rental car has no air conditioning. They get lost because they don't know how to read a map, and then their rental GPS gets stuck in some kind of French sounding neighborhood and they end up in a fish-market or something like that with crates and fresh squishy things. 2,200 dollars for a 200 mile, at the most, ride. At the hotel they are kicked out because their credit card has been overdrawn by their own daughter. And that's only part of the beginning. Get to that film to discover the hundreds of details and risks out-of-towners run in New York City, an apple in which any smiling friendly face may be the worm that is eating the core of it. Very well done and so dynamic that you may fall for the good old days of Hair in Central Park.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines