Girl on a Bicycle

Girl on a Bicycle is an irreverent, half baked romantic comedy that has a few funny moments tucked into a fim whose premise is both unbelievable and uncomfortable. Many of the jokes are about stereotypes, gendar roles, and other sophomoric topics.

Paolo is an Italian tour bus driver in Paris. His fiancé, Greta, is a German Flight Attendant. Paolo becomes smitten to the point of obsession with Cécile, a beautiful French woman on a bicycle. He follows her several times with his tour bus, (putting his passengers in jeopardy); the last he follows her, he actually hits Cécile with the bus. Oops. Hate when that happens.

She suffers a broken leg and arm, which renders her unable to care for her two adorable children, Julian, six, and Claire, five, who are in need of a father since their's flew the coop years before. Instead of being arrested, Paolo ends up taking care of Cécile and the kids, who fall in love with their stand-in father, a deed that he hides from his fiance, Greta. Eventually Greta, (played well by Nora Tschirner), gets suspicious, and follows him.

The lightness felt awkward given the film's topic and execution. The few laughs weren't worth the overall cringe-worthy elements for me.

Paolo Moretti (Vincenzo Amato) is an Italian who drives a Paris tour bus but according to him, everything in Paris is second rate compared to Italy. He proposes marriage to German stewardess Greta Kluge (Nora Tschirner) after living for almost 3 years together. Incompetent french model Cécile Laurent (Louise Monot) rides her bicycle beside his bus, and he is completely taken with her. Taking his friend Derek Meech (Paddy Considine)'s bad advise and due to a misunderstanding at the hospital, he gets involved with the french model and her kids. He hits her with his bus and now he has to take care of her. Meanwhile a french pilot friend keeps hanging around Greta.

The multi-lingual dialog throws me off. The leads speak with accents anyways and I rather have it subtitled. I wanted to see this for Paddy Considine but he only has a small role. The leads have limited comedic timing and the language differences causes even more problems on that front. This rom-com is pretty pedestrian and flimsy. It has a weak light-weight charm but then he's chasing another woman around and it becomes unromantic. So the rom is pretty bad. They make up for it by backpedaling on the cheating idea but then the misunderstanding could be so easily explained if he just tells her the truth (minus the chasing her for her number). The comedy does have its moments of charm like him in the airplane toilet forcing her to talk to him. It's cute but not much more.

I found this movie to be a fun, cheesy rom-com, and I say this as a person who's not usually a fan of rom-coms. I had a lot of fun spending time with these characters, and the plot was different enough that I didn't feel like I was watching the same stupid paint-by-numbers movie that rom-coms generally are.

The children were precocious, but not saccharine; the Italian lead could have had a little more emotion in his facial expressions, but otherwise, was a fairly solid lead, and the German fiancée was immensely likable, and made her dilemma - when she found out the truth - to be genuine and relatable. The British best friend was some nice eye-candy, and very likable as well, and the French girl on the bicycle and the womanizing Francois were also a lot of fun. I wouldn't mind hanging out with this bunch of people.

Overall, this movie isn't particularly deep, and it won't change your life if you watch it, but it would be a very enjoyable way to while away a rainy afternoon.

For the sake of fairness, I have to say something to balance the other reviews. Shortly: This comedy isn't funny at all.

Characters have no screen presence, except for Mr Considine. They just ooze around and talk to each other, in many uninspired dialogue scenes that will quickly bore you.

The film lacks personality and energy. The plot may sound interesting, but it would have been better delivered as a short. Plus, the whole thing looks amateurish.

This is the kind of film you may watch on TV on a countryside stormy day, when chances of power cuts are higher, for you can miss several minutes about anywhere with no fear of getting lost.

This is a feel good movie that isn't dopey. It was well written, a farce with absurd situations that are believable. There are some great funny lines, be sure to catch them. The characters are all terrific and very likable. The scenes in Paris are beautiful

Actors are great, the two male leads have perfect comedic timing. The female leads are beautiful and will win your heart.

If you need a break from high-brow films that leave you feeling upset, go see this. It's a wonderful fun night out and for it's genre very well made.

This is a don't miss. Out on Valentine's Day (what could be more perfect?)