El Amor Viaja En Primera Clase

Forget Meg Ryan, forget Julia Roberts...This is romantic comedy at its best! Juliette Binoche and Jean Reno are outstanding. The plot is more than original and, better, convincing. I fell in love with the story but even more with the characters and their lives. Nothing in them seems "plastic". Although one knows that the end will be a happy one, the plot is so convincing that the end does not come as if was predicted. Each scene is so natural and revealing that it keeps you asking for more. I seriously do not understand the poor reviews it has gotten here. Could it be a little bit of jealousy because it is a foreign film from a country with no tradition in this genre but that nonetheless achieves what most American romantic comedies don't? I cannot explain it otherwise.

I can see how this movie would be an easy target for criticism. It might appear fluffy and without depth, sort of easy and implausible.

But I think it's better than that. First of course, are the performances. Both actors are terrific and both have long been favorites of mine. A special call-out, though, has to go to Binoche, who just couldn't be any more delightful. An absolutely fantastic actress. She's so wonderful, the only problem in the movie is why doesn't he fall in love with her any faster?

Second is the basic intelligence of the dialog. The conversations are very engaging, occasionally wry, sometimes sweet, with some sharpness along the way.

Finally, there is a meditation in here on film in general, and romantic comedies in particular. The movie is able to move back a bit, consider itself, and resist the temptation to be cynical.

`Jet Lag' is a French romantic comedy that takes place almost entirely in an airport terminal and an airport hotel. Juliette Binoche and Jean Reno are two strangers who meet at the Paris airport and end up sharing a room when all flights are cancelled due to an air traffic controllers strike (think of how this affair would have been thwarted had Reagan been France's president at the time!). Rose and Felix are both riddled with insecurities and anxieties, having been largely unlucky in the ways of love. Yet, after some predictable initial tension between them, they somehow manage to find a mutual strength – and attraction - in their combined weaknesses.

`Jet Lag' is so simple and unassuming in its early stages that we are amazed to discover, about a third of the way through, just how completely it has managed to sneak up on us and win us over. Unlike most American romantic comedies, `Jet Lag' allows its characters to actually talk and get to know one another. It sure doesn't hurt, of course, that Binoche and Reno are such talented, attractive performers who establish an astonishing rapport in their scenes together. Sure, the plotting isn't exactly believable, but when is that ever the case in a film of this type anyway? The thing that matters is that we like the people we have become involved with and that we can accept, if only for just a moment, the possibility that they might be able to find happiness together. That is certainly the case in this film. (If there is a criticism to be leveled against the film, it is that it is simply too short, clocking in at barely over 80 minutes. How many films can one say THAT about?).

`Jet Lag' could have been a completely insubstantial little film; instead, it resonates with a joyfulness and charm that truly captivate the viewer. This is a winner well worth checking out.

French films are characterized by dialog and this film is no exception. The setting is clever - not really a modern adaptation of The VIP's, but on that order (and more down to earth). The situation is funny and, in the cell phone era, one to which we might all relate. (Of course, I assume not many people lose their cell phones à la Juliette Binoche.)

A fan of both Binoche and Reno, I find both charming and the chemistry between them very real. Binoche's beautician is also far more interesting, and less stereotypified, than American film portrayals (Fran Drescher, Dolly Parton, Jennifer Coolidge...)

Not one of the great French films by any means, but I still give this one 8/10.

No one seems to have noticed that this is a French romantic comedy meditating on Hollywood. It's pretty explicit, it seems to me, when we start with a reference to Pretty Woman and end with the theme from Midnight Cowboy. I think that Jean Reno is doing a pretty witty Dustin Hoffman, while Juliette Binoche is Julia Roberts as Midnight Cowgirl.

What makes this movie stay with me is that the Jean Reno character is not only an inspired chef, he is all sensuality when he eats. And Juliette Binoche is not just a makeup artist, she is the determined maker of the scenes she finds herself appearing in.

We all want to fall in love. We are all frightened that the moment it happens is just another emotional trap. This movie says yes to both, and grab it while you can.