L'année de la comète

I don't know why so many people think this is a bad film. I guess I'm no critic but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Beautiful locations. Attractive stars. And the "underdog" doesn't stay under for long. I'ts not rocket science, but who wants to watch rocket science at the end of a tough day. It's fun, romantic and something you can watch even if the kids are around. I'd give it the full 10 stars!

As someone who very rarely leaves comments, I just want to say how much I have enjoyed this film. In fact the chances are I would have never watched this film, as its not the type of film I would have ever sought out, nor was I ever a fan of the lead stars.

As it was back in 1993 I happened to be working in a video store in which we were only permitted to watch PG films in-store for obvious reasons. This happened to be a new release which I put on one day. Generally I would have put it one and forgot about about it, like so many other films. However I was initially actually attracted to it by its soundtrack, then the fact it was filmed in Britain, made me more interested as at the time I preferred to watch British films, usually for their added realism.

Soon I was hooked to the film, although the acting looked a bit corny, I thought it was deliberate, and the dialogue was actually quite funny in its downbeat style. The story made the film a bit like a road movie with both lead characters initially almost irritated by each other. But the adventure they go on as they hunt for the elusive bottle of rare wine.

By the end of it I was in love with Penelope Ann Miller and almost whooping at Tim Daly. In fact I liked it so much over the course of 18 months I watched it around 25 times! I wouldn't claim its to everyone's taste, however if you want to watch an enjoyable film for a quiet night in, watch Year Of The Comet, I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

This movie was poorly promoted by the companies behind it - even though it is a great movie. This is one of the best romantic comedies I have ever seen. If you liked "The Cutting Edge" or "Romancing the Stone," you will like this one. I highly recommend it!

Lighthearted romantic comedy / adventure film that pays homage to the genre's classics from Hollywood Golden Era, in the vein of the resurgence of this kind of films in the 80's such as "High Road to China" ('83), "Romancing the Stone" ('84) and similar in tone to "American Dreamer" (also from '84) and "Miracles" ('86) with elements of a thriller, but in an uncommitted & unpretentious way, thrown into it.

The locations were very well spotted, from Scotland's Highlands to French Riviera, with veteran Peter Yates (the man behind such cult movies as "Bullitt" or "The Dresser") on the helm, offering a laid-back direction just for the fun of it, based on an original story by screenwriter William Goldman (who penned more 'serious' & intricate scripts like "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" or "Marathon Man"), both doing a movie about one of their favorite things in life: red wine.

Penelope Ann Miller, then a rising star, fresh from her co-starring roles in "The Freshman", "Awakenings", "Kindergarten Cop" and "Other People's Money" got her first leading role here as the mousy Margaret Harwood, the daughter of a posh wine merchant, Sir Mason Harwood (Ian Richardson), that discovers a rare bottle of wine, a vintage 1811 (sealed in the year of the comet) bearing a Napoleon's seal, in the cellar of an old Scottish Manor. This valuable antique is sold to a millionaire who sends his friend, Oliver Plexico (Tim Daly) to retrieve the bottle, but there are a bunch of unscrupulous competitors who want this find for themselves. Together, Margaret and Oliver will live the adventure of their lives, finding love along the way...

"Year of the Comet" is a harmless piece of escapism, nice to watch on a typical lazy Sunday afternoon: the characters are charming and interesting to follow; the plot is way too cartoon-ish to be believed, but applying the suspension of disbelief it works almost like a spoof of the genre, grabbing a less demanding audience and providing them a good way to spend a hour and a half.

Penelope Ann Miller and Tim Daly (sporting a sort of Tom Selleck's mustache) gave the best on their performances, the two have chemistry together and they delivered the goods with the heart on the material, unfortunately the critical and Box Office failure, killed their careers as leading performers. Miller still had the chance to work in the high profile, Brian De Palma's "Carlito's Way" (which got her some critical praise and was nominated for a Golden Globe), but after she has disclosed about her affair with the co-star and then a married man, Al Pacino, her career stalled and Tim Daly plans to aspire as a virile / charming leading star like Michael Douglas, went down the toilet, too. The classic french leading star, Louis Jourdan gives here his last breath on-screen, after more than 50 years of hard work in the business, offering a funny, witty and over-the-top performance as the stylish villain, a mix of his roles as the James Bond's nemesis in "Octopussy" and the evil Doctor Anton Arcane in "Swamp Thing" and its sequel.

In short, "Year of the Comet" was unfairly bashed when it was released, even if it isn't a great movie, it deserved better fate. Maybe if it was produced in the 80's, could have found an audience, but by 1992, the movie-goers were over-saturated of this peculiar genre and moved on to a more darker films...

This film is seen by quite a few people as a bit of a turkey but I liked it very much. One other correspondent said he watched it for Ian Richardson and Nick Brimble but my main reason for watching it was Penelope Ann Miller (as with Other People's Money). She's just gorgeous and the scene where Timothy Daly says "the first time I saw you I wanted to sleep with you" touched a chord with me. She's the epitome of the beautiful heroine. I'm a bit of a munro-bagger and have climbed a few of the mountains in the background of a few scenes in this film. Hummie Mann produced some nice celtic music for the Scottish scenes. It puzzles me though how Timothy Daly's character could remain so fit looking despite consuming vast quantities of beer (so addicted he'd brink a can of Bud in a sauna). I admit it could have been better given the vast assemblage of talent involved in it but Penelope Ann Miller brightens up the worst turkey.