A Good Year

"A simple repast consisting of sometimes strained slapsticky comedy, a sweet romance and a life lesson learned, this little picnic doesn't amount to much but goes down easily enough..."

"You sense in every frame the strain to be lighthearted. Consequently, "A Good Year" is at times downright clumsy. You know what the filmmakers are trying to achieve and see the labor going into the attempt, but for them to fall so short is unsettling..."

"It's difficult to ignore the fact that they've created a romantic comedy that has almost no romance and even less comedy..."

"Ridley Scott's A Good Year is a bonbon made by a mechanic, a well-intentioned diversion put together by someone who clumsily adds the right ingredients in the wrong proportions at the wrong time. But sometimes, if you get the sugar level close to right, you can do OK, and A Good Year offers some pretty basic pleasures that movies often fail to give us these days..."

"Forget that this is a film about a man's epiphany about what's important in life, and enjoy it for its lighthearted moments, slapstick comedy, but most of all its divine locations. For those who dream about retiring to the French countryside, this film will have you drooling..."

"The Merlot to "Sideways" Pinot, this is one of those middling movies that, while never terrible, also never really impresses..."

"A wish-fulfilment fantasy aimed squarely at middle-aged men, A Good Year might be forgiveable if it wasn't so perilously short on jokes..."