2 Days in Paris

It's a pretty small sub-genre of films, in which Julie Delpy plays an irritating European, wandering round a European city in the company of an even more annoying American. But Delpy, who starred in Richard Linklater's 'Before Sunrise' and its sequel, has now made a film of her own in a similar mould. Fortunately, it's not as self-regarding as Linklater's films, but it isn't funny enough to really work as a comedy, and if it's characters are a little less unlikeable, they're still not really interesting, being too self-consciously eccentric. Delpy tries to paint a picture of the reality of a mature relationship; but it doesn't really work when the protagonists have the emotional development of teenagers. I sincerely hope the genre goes no further than here.

The culture-clash story might have been done before, but this is still a very refreshing and most of the time utterly hilarious movie. Myself and the rest of the theater burst out laughing every couple of minutes, which makes me forgive the few scenes that made me uncomfortable. Definitely not for the faint of heart or easily offended!

The characters might seem over the top at times, but they're still likable and real (as witnessed by the fact that the artwork in the gallery was actually made by Julie Delpy's father). I thought that Julie Delpy's parents stole the show whenever they were on screen, although Delpy and Goldberg both do a very good job.

All in all, it feels like a very personal look at French (or rather, Parisian bohemian) life, and very much worth a viewing. Or even two.

What is it with Julie Delpy? I have only seen a hand-full of her movies but she always manages to surprise and excite. She acts brilliantly as the title character in Tarantinoesque Killing Zoë, manages to stay convincing in the far-fetched An American Werewolf in Paris and is great as a young lover in Before Sunrise and as a confident woman in the sequel Before Sunset. This brings us to 2 days in Paris which could easily be mistaken for a continuation of the Sunrise/Sunset movies. And that would be a huge mistake: 2 Days in Paris is a dialogue driven romantic comedy dissecting a couples quasi-dysfunctional relationships and how they have to come to terms with their individual imperfections to be able to truly coexist as a pair. Though that may not sound like compelling viewing its actually hugely entertaining as it dissects a million small mix-ups which can make or break a couple.

Adam Goldberg is compelling as the sarcastic yet witty American boyfriend visiting Paris for the first time with his girlfriend. What follows is a series of hugely entertaining misunderstandings involving cross cultural differences, hilarious conversations in broken French with family members and a series of unplanned rendezvous with former lovers all of which combine to drive him high up the paranoia ladder.

It's refreshing to find out that not only does Julie Delpy act brilliantly as the naive and clumsy Marion but she also directed and wrote it, heck she even composed the soundtrack.

The lasting message of this movie is although you might hate 80% of the things your lover does if you just cant live without them don't lose them

Those who can write, direct, act, produce and co edit a film are very rare - indeed non existent. Of course there are a few geniuses like Tommy Lee Jones (Three Burials)who can direct and act but they are few and far between. Julie Delpy alas has none of the qualities as mentioned as is demonstrated in this film.

"2 Days In Paris" is nothing more than a two day old, dogs dinner. To be more generous it is a gab-fest with Delpy doing the gabbing at 5000 words per frame. Put aside the cheap cinematography (what photography I hear you say?) and it is nothing more than third rate Woody Allen film from the 1970's except it's on steroids. Once you have gotten over the swing-cam moving left to right - as if the cameraman had been trained to film tennis tournaments - then you can settle down to watch two boring characters self implode amid some of the weakest location settings ever. To be fair, they do take a one second breather about forty-five minutes into the film. If you are watching it on DVD then is the time to have a break for an hour and get yourself primed with a drink for the rest of the film - you'll need it.

This is one of those films that makes one feel like a voyeur at a bus stop. You can hear and see the couple in front of you arguing and you want them to go away because after a while they are plain old annoying. In essence, that is the theme that struggles its way through the film.

Has as been said by others, it is riddled with clichés and stereotypes. The film and the plot has no vision nor lends itself to giving any insights. One suspects that the crude moments in the film are there only to lift the pointless plot out of the doldrums.

It is sad that what had the potential to be a good film has been ruined by Delpy's ego in collaboration with the truly awful acting of the others - except the cat who adapted the minimalist method of acting.

I shall be writing to the DVD distributors and asking them if they will include a pack of spaghetti with each DVD. I think it would help to relieve the boredom if people could knit spaghetti while watching. At least they would have something at the end of the film.

Note to self: Avoid all Delpy films in the future. Send Delpy a catalogue of vari-focal lenses including wide angle. Who knows?

I must say that this not a boring film at all, although I found the endless little quarrels a bit tiresome. It is hard, though, for a non-French person to judge just how much of all this is meant to portray the character of "the French" (if anything like that exists) and how much is mere parody exploiting and playing with the cliché that French people always think about love and sex. For example, is Marion's father supposed to be a prototype or simply a caricature? Knowing this would be of great help in evaluating this movie.

On the other hand, the film is very balanced in its attempt to weigh Marion's delight in experiment against Jack's conservative rationalism with regard to relationships. In other respects, of course, Jack is not rational at all, for example concerning his hypochondria. Whether one wants to call him touchy and easily offended will probably also depend on whether you think that, in the first place, he is being treated badly by all those slightly crazy Parisians or whether you would rather want to say that he is a bit stiff and inhibited.

In any case, this is a nice little film about the difficult task to lead a cross-national relationship and about the fact that thinking you know your partner is not the same as knowing her or his culture.

But don't expect to see a romance like in "Before Sunrise"!!