Jet Lag
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Movie Reviews of Jet Lag
Movie Review: a real charmer
Summary: 3 Stars
***1/2 "Jet Lag" is a French romantic comedy that takes place almost entirely in an airport terminal and an airport hotel. Juliette Binoche and Jean Reno are two strangers who meet at the Paris airport and end up sharing a room when all flights are cancelled due to an air traffic controllers strike (think of how this affair would have been thwarted had Reagan been France's president at the time!). Rose and Felix are both riddled with insecurities and anxieties, having been largely unlucky in the ways of love. Yet, after some predictable initial tension between them, they somehow manage to find a mutual strength - and attraction - in their combined weaknesses."Jet Lag" is so simple and unassuming in its early stages that we are amazed to discover, about a third of the way through, just how completely it has managed to sneak up on us and win us over. Unlike most American romantic comedies, "Jet Lag" allows its characters to actually talk and get to know one another. It sure doesn't hurt, of course, that Binoche and Reno are such talented, attractive performers who establish an astonishing rapport in their scenes together. Sure, the plotting isn't exactly believable, but when is that ever the case in a film of this type anyway? The thing that matters is that we like the people we have become involved with and that we can accept, if only for just a moment, the possibility that they might be able to find happiness together. That is certainly the case in this film. (If there is a criticism to be leveled against the film, it is that it is simply too short, clocking in at barely over 80 minutes. How many films can one say THAT about?).
"Jet Lag" could have been a completely insubstantial little film; instead, it resonates with a joyfulness and charm that truly captivate the viewer. This is a winner well worth checking out.
Movie Review: Another enjoyable comedy from Daniele Thompson
Summary: 3 Stars
"Décalage horaire" (2002) aka Jet Lag was the third film written/directed by Daniele Thompson that I've seen. It may not be as marvelous as La Būche (1999), her directorial debut or charming and delightful as Fauteuils d'orchestre (2006), her latest film but it is definitely worth seeing for the wonderful acting by two fine French actors, Juliette Binoche and Jean Reno who both played against their types. Binoche does not appear often in the comedies and Reno is not well known as a romantic lead but they were pleasure to watch in the light romantic dramedy that takes place in the famous Paris Charles de Gaulle airport one long rainy night when all flights were grounded by weather and a baggage strike. Two strangers meet by chance, when Rose (Binoche) who had accidentally flushed her cell phone in a toilet, asks a perfect stranger, Felix (Reno), to use his phone. They are both professionally successful. He is a chef who made a fortune in the frozen-food business, and she has won a golden brush, the equivalent of Pulitzer Prize for the make-up artists. Their personal lives are the mess. Each has the problems, disappointments, unsatisfying or unfinished relationships by the time of their first encounter. She flees from her abusive boyfriend of 12 years (Sergio Lopes is memorably scary in a tiny cameo). He still can't recover from his previous relationship and suffers from anxiety attacks. Perhaps, 81 minutes is not enough to convince us that these two flawed and insecure individuals will overcome their past and live happily ever after but Binoche and Reno masterfully and elegantly created on the screen the possibility of love and readiness to accept it.
3.5/5
Movie Review: Avanti in an airport - a slight diversion
Summary: 3 Stars
Jetlag began life as a high-concept Hollywood romcom before becoming a French vehicle for Jean Reno and Juliette Binoche. Similarities to 'One Fine Day' notwithstanding, this is pretty much 'Avanti' in an airport, albeit without Wilder's wit or romanticism. Reno is the Jack Lemmon substitute, an uptight chef-turned-frozen-dinner-company-owner in a hurry to reach his ex's grandmother's funeral while Binoche takes the Juliet Mills role as the working class beautician. When their planes are constantly delayed and they find themselves sharing a hotel room... fill in the blanks. It's not particularly good and wildly over-reliant on starpower to hide the gaps in the script, but it's a watchable soaper which does have one nice scene in a hotel kitchen when Reno cooks dinner while revealing family secrets (the equivalent of the nude swim in 'Avanti' where the two characters' barriers finally come down). Thin stuff even at the 81-minute mark (seven of which are credits), but it just about manages to fill the gap between real movies.
The transfer is acceptable but although the film was shown in theaters in 2.35:1, once the titles are over the film is presented 1.85:1.
Movie Review: Odd Little Flick
Summary: 3 Stars
Fans of foreign cinema might find more to love in this movie than I did. It's watchable but not much more. It does give a perceptive viewer the unique opportunity of hearing a French actor speak his native language with an American accent, though. (Think Pepe Le Pew in reverse.) As we watch Juliette Binoche transform herself from a stranger to our eyes, buried as she was at first beneath a cocoon of makeup with her hair densely piled atop her head, back to the actress audiences are more familiar with, the movie itself begins to seem warmer and the two lost souls who unexpectedly meet in an airport fall almost plausibly in love. As a sort of public service message to those who rent and buy French films based on an expectation of seeing skin, Jet Lag lacked the copious nudity that keeps many Americans going through subtitled foreign movies but a little bit was gratuitously slipped in almost as an afterthought. Jet Lag wasn't bad or very good either, and if my review doesn't take it seriously, then note that my impression was that the actors in it didn't either.Movie Review: A FRENCH "WHEN HARRY MET SALLY"
Summary: 3 Stars
BEING A FAN OF JULIETTE BINOCHES' DRAMATIC ROLES. I FOUND THIS A NICE CHANGE OF PACE FOR THE ACTRESS, SHOWING SOME LIGHT COMEDIC FLAIR.ALTHOUGH THE FILM DOESN'T BRING ANYTHING NEW TO THE BATTLE OF THE SEXES,IT TRAVELS ALONG QUITE NICELY. DELIVERING TWO QUITE POLAR-OPPOSITE PERFORMANCES FROM THE LEADS, I HOPE JULIETTE CHOOSES MORE OF THESE KINDS OF ROLES IN HER FUTURE.