Review of A Good Year (2006) by John V — 07 Mar 2010

2006 seems to have become a year that produced movies destined to move swiftly from big screen to more modest proportions. Ridley Scott's attempt to re-kindle his love affair with favourite Russell Crowe in 'A Good Year' is yet another 2006 entry which missed its mark and landed squarely on the freeview film channels.

Russell Crowe stars as ruthless, aggressive city trader Max Skinner whose sole surviving relative; his uncle Henry (Albert Finney) dies, leaving Max as the sole heir to his vineyard in the glorious Provence, France. Facing a king-size for in London for his most recent financial escapades, Skinner finds himself somewhat stranded in the idyllic vineyard, faced with the furious and redemptive forces of wine-maker Francis, Californian heir-threat Christie (Abbie Cornish) and beautiful local waitress Fanny (Marion Cotillard).

The soppy, ridiculously cheerful nature of the rom-com keeps yet another usage of the boy-meets-girl-redemptive formula from drowning in a sea of over-optimism and well-meaning sap. Adding the visual beauty of the French vineyard into the equation is another tick for the flexibility of the formula if not scripting or directory prowess on display, however the happiness of 'A Good Year' is infectious and praise should be given to the film's effortlessly beautiful cinematography.

Labelled as a comedy, 'A Good Year' is made in the mould of the many films that rarely boil over into outright hilarity but simmer throughout. While this is admirable and a success of 'A Good Year', the problem is very much the single, greatest failing of 'A Good Year'. The writing and casting of Crowe are far too much a cheap copy of the partnership of Richard Curtis and Hugh Grant, right down to Crowe's awful English accent. Whilst Grant may not have played the ruthless businessman to the same degree of quality as Crowe, the general style and feel of the film is misplaced by the all-too-obvious aspiration to replicate Curtis and Grant. Crowe and Scott, purely and simply, are not rom-com material.

'A Good Year's' appeal lies best with the irrestible and mesmerizing charms of Cotillard's feisty performance and the unashamed exploitation of nationality stereotyoes. Never deep or convoluted, 'A Good Year' is probably the equivalent of receiving an impromptu, two hour spa treatment that relaxes but hides the forgotten ironing pile, washing-up and school-run within, pretty much, a mirage of vineyard beauty and Marion Cotillard.