A GOOD YEAR Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
20TH Century Fox/ Fox 2000
Grade: B
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Written By: Marc Klein, novel by Peter Mayle
Cast: Russell Crowe, Albert Finney, Marion Cotillard, Abbie Cornish, Didier Bourdon, Tom Hollander, Freddie Highmore, Archie Panjabi, Isbelle Candelier
Screened at: AMC 34th St., NYC, 11/12/06
Opens: November 20, 2006 How ya gonna keep ‘em/ In the UK/ After they’ve seen Provence! Here’s a reverse of the usual ditty, which had advised us that the big city has a great many attractions, while farm land is just plain dull. In “A Good Year,” director Ridley Scott (“Black Hawk Down,” “Hannibal,” “Gladiator”) and Russell Crowe (“L.A. Confidential,” “Gladiator”) team up to carve a frothy romantic comedy, and despite a few flaws–for example, some unfunny and unconvincing slapstick–for the most part they succeed. The story centers on a detached, highly competitive trader in London’s bond market who had not taken a vacation in years who finds a more soulful existence–we hope for more than a few months-- as a vintner in the south of France. Russell Crowe may not convince us that he has abandoned a life of fevered rivalry, reveling in the authority he commands over a group of younger British capitalists. But whether he succeeds in proving the age-old axiom wrong, that people cannot change, he’s having fun testing the waters–or in this case the vinegary wine of a suspiciously neglected vineyard and the honeyed lips of a previously untrusting Gallic femme. Frequent flashbacks take us to the Provence winery run by Uncle Henry (Albert Finney), a rake who, when not seducing women who have an acquired taste in men pays considerable attention to his nephew, young Max (Freddie Higmore). Already we see evidence of Max’s competitive bent as he thinks nothing of cheating his uncle in chess and virtually suffering a breakdown when defeated by the older man on the property’s tennis court. Two decades later, Maximilian, true to his name, shows us how to make millions in minutes, buying cheap and selling dear (why didn’t I think of that?), enjoying London’s classiest restaurants and savoring the women who adore him. When his uncle, with whom he had not spoken in ten years, dies, Maximilian finds himself in possession of the chateau as the will-challenged Henry’s allegedly closest relative. There he meets Fanny (Marion Cotillard), who runs the local café, Francis (Didier Bourdon), who has worked the land for ages, and the worker’s seductive wife, Ludivine (Isabelle Candelier). Though a pretty American woman, Christie (Abbie Cornish), turns up later in the story, her lack of sophistication makes clear to the audience that in this predictable tale, Max will wind up with someone of local vintage. Despite one scene whose slapstick borders on embarrassment more appropriate to the vulgar “Borat”–that of Max’s having fallen into an empty pool unable to climb out until a local denizen floods the pit leaving a muddied Max–“A Good Year” is a pleasant enough diversion. Its lenser, Philippe Le Sourd, expresses his geographical preferences by painting London in an unflattering blue and Provence as a gift from Apollo. Russell Crowe, who should entice the women to the box office, looks fine with his fashionable two-day stubble, except when he wakes up one morning clean shaven before he so much as gets out of bed. Rated PG-13. 118 minutes 2006 by Harvey Karten
harveycritic@cs.com Member: NY Film Critics Online | 
