Premise: In the middle of a mid-life crisis, a bourbon enthusiast retreats to a French vineyard where he finds love.
Most of what the movie sold me on, via the trailer, happens in the first 5 minutes. It's a glorious cringe comedy idea. Stuart (Matt Walsh) is alone and depressed after getting fired from a job he loves at a bourbon distillery. He's invited by his friend to join his family on a French vacation. Stuart badly misreads his friend's 20-something daughter's friendliness for something more and proposes to her under the Eiffel Tower. She flatly refuses as her parents, who are also there, shame him for the idea. That's awesome! If a movie lands that kind of setup, it can ride that for the rest of the movie. Sadly, Under the Eiffel Tower doesn't quite get there. It rushes through exposition to get to that point. I barely had time to even register the signals Stuart was misreading before he made the doomed proposal. Given that it's the title of the movie, I expected they'd let that scene breathe a little more. Did they only have a very limited amount of time to shoot the scene? It looked like it was on location.
Once it gets past that opening catastrophe, this turns into - well - basically the movie Sideways. Stuart and a Scottish footballer friend (fellow Veep alum Reid Scott) he picks up, retreat to a French vineyard and vie for the affection of the lovely owner, Louise (Judith Godreche). This is a very sweet movie even if I don't think it all works. It seems afraid to be "just" an atmospheric romance about a middle-aged man finding peace. It throws in complications like an expensive dinner he owes a restaurant owner for, a plan to get his old job back by purchasing the vineyard, and the competing advances of Stuart and the footballer. The parts of the movie I found most interesting were Walsh and Godreche painting, talking, and cooking. I would've happily cut out a few of the complications in order to flesh out the ones it kept.
I'd love to know more about how this movie came together. Matt Walsh is one of the producers, which makes sense, given all the people from Veep in this. Judith Godreche is a co-writer and producer, which surely explains the France of it all. Director and co-writer Archie Borders is a Louisville filmmaker, which explains Walsh's character being from Louisville and loving bourbon. Even with only that knowledge, the movie comes together visibly. Then I have other questions, like, was Dylan Gelula brought on board because of her time on Casual with Michaela Watkins. And what's the David Wain connection? I feel like he and Walsh are surely old friends from something.
Regardless, I enjoyed a lot of what this movie had to offer. Walsh makes a pretty convincing leading man turn, although he still has trouble nailing the super sincere moments like his climactic monologue. Godreche is great. Apparently, I've seen her in a number of things, but I don't recall her ever making as much of an impact as she does here. The very American Reid Scott has a lot of fun with that Scottish accent. Dylan Gelula and Michaela Watkins get some good zingers in too. The food and the French countryside look beautiful. The movie is softly funny more than laugh out loud funny, which works for it.
Verdict: Weakly Recommend
No comments:
Post a Comment