2 Days in Paris

I don't like Paris or France (and I'm not that into the way French sounds). Never having been there, let me tell you all about it: it's full of cheese-eating surrender monkeys (and this movie portrays them as hyper-sexual, self-absorbed, semi-revolting bastards .... no, it's not a documentary). There, now we can get to the movie...


This film intrigued me from the first time I saw its trailer because it didn't appear to be a typical chick flick ... and surprise, it's not! Julie Deply and Adam Goldberg have been dating for about 2 years and they're finally going to Paris--where Deply grew up--for a few days after a week in Venice. Goldberg discovers that Paris is the city of lovers, most of which seem to have "known" his girlfriend. Obviously, that causes a bit of strife between the two as trust issues abound.

The great thing about the characters played by Deply and Goldberg is that they feel real, they feel normal, they feel like people I could know (or already do). This doesn't seem to happen in a lot of love-story focussed films, as the hero and the heroine are usually super attractive do-gooders all of the time. Goldberg has been a hit-or-miss actor for me throughout his career (liked him: Saving Private Ryan, A Beautiful Mind, Zodiac, Entourage; disliked him (or the movies): The Hebrew Hammer, Dazed and Confused, EdTV). Deply, on the other hand, was a total wild card. The only thing she's been in that I've seen is Broken Flowers ... and that movie was one of the biggest disappointments I've ever seen (worst [postmodern] ending ever!). Not only did she do an excellent job acting, she also did a great job directing.

Final Grade: B
Blurb: Although it didn't deliver as many laughs as I thought it would, it excelled as a story involving characters that felt "real"--albeit far from normal. This is not your typical love story (this movie is sort of like cinematic marriage counseling), but that's exactly what sets 2 Days in Paris apart from the field.