Girl on a Bicycle

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.

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 had to create a quick account just to review this movie. It was truly fun. It's standard romantic comedy in a lot of ways with the innocent misunderstandings and the best friend support.

Seeing all the sites in Paris and all of the humor about the different cultures and language misunderstandings set it apart from a typical rom/com though and made it hilarious and interesting at the same time. Most of the movie is in English and as an American it is amazing watching the actors switch easily from one language to another.

As to reviewer who is criticizing the German acting..I really don't know what he is talking about. I thought the female lead was hilarious and that she could have a career in Hollywood. Who the other Germans are..I don't know. The other leads are french, Italian and English.

Watch this movie for the humor and sweetness first and then for the sites of Paris.

Very much like a Hollywood RomCom (formulaic, predictable, fluffy romantic comedy)some of the other IMDb reviewers thought it was awful and some thought it super duper. For me, it was neither extreme. The lead actor carried his part well and the chemistry was fun and believable between him and his German girlfriend. After the bus incident, you could pretty much write the story yourself, but it was still enjoyable enough to watch it all develop (though I did consider fast-forwarding it in a few places.) The screenplay had a few very good lines, but they're gone from memory as I know the film will be by tomorrow.

A fine example of what romantic comedy should be. Funny, sexy, and a bit silly. Well written, acted, and directed. We loved it!