Movie Review: Paris Can Wait (2016)

Review Score: 2-stars; Not a fan.

Rating: PG

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Places Featured: France

Paris Can Wait has all the elements of a movie I would love–a road trip through the beautiful French countryside, sensuous scenes of food and wine, lessons on romance, love, and the meaning of life…but I can’t actually say I loved it.

Diane Lane plays Anne, a middle-aged American woman in France with her busy film-producing husband (played by Alec Baldwin). When he has to fly somewhere on yet another business trip, but Anne is feeling ill, his business associate, a Frenchman named Jacques (played by Arnaud Viad) offers to drive Anne from Cannes to Paris.

What should have been a seven-hour trip ends up taking several days as Jacques decides to show Anne the beauty of France–the food, the wine, the beautiful sights, and, along the way, he helps her understand a key difference between French and American culture: the pleasure in taking things slowly and appreciating life (and everything in it).

But, I’m afraid that’s the problem with the movie–it’s just too slow. (Yes, I see the irony in my opinion.) I don’t mind a slow meandering plot–especially since that’s the theme of the movie–but I need to care about the characters and enjoy the dialogue and neither of those were true for me here. Anne and Jacques don’t seem real and there isn’t any chemistry between them.

This is one of those movies that has real potential–and if you enjoy France, food, or wine, you will still get something out of this movie–but, for the most part, I’d say you can wait on Paris Can Wait.