mpal

The thing you get when you want to watch a movie based on a story/novel is that you tend to be influenced by comments made from other people who have read the novel, and they are usually not satisfied with the movie. In this case, I'm not ashamed to say that I haven't read the novel, and the reason why I turned to this movie is simply because of the actors. For 2001 release, are there any other movies filled with stellar performances from a bunch of Academy-Award winning and nominated actors? What could be the worst that could happen from a movie with Kevin Spacey, Cate Blanchett, Judi Dench, Julianne Moore, Pete Postlethwaite, Scott Glenn, etc.? The answer is (too bad then :(), the script. Although I've no idea about the novel, but I can feel that the script is a bit flawed, making Mr. Hallstrom slightly "lost" the continuity in his directing. Blanchett's character deservedly needs more development, as well as for Moore's. Well, now you know why Spacey and Dench shine in this movie. Not as heart-warming as "The Cider House Rules" or as sweet as "Chocolate", but for Spacey's fine performance, this movie is worth your dollars.

When you get to see the movie for the first time, it seems that everything looks to be perfectly right... until the leading man appears. The lovely and graceful Audrey Hepburn and the fatherly Maurice Chevalier makes a great father-and-daughter team, but ... I've no choice but to agree w/ other users "condemning" the choice of way too-old Gary Cooper as Hepburn's love interest. Apart from that, the movie's truly worth watching for any die-hard lovers of old-fashioned romance. With the amazing black-and-white cinematography from the master of it, Billy Wilder, and the eternal beauty of Audrey Hepburn, this film is a 'hard to miss'.

Towards the end of the movie, the Guy character says : "The trouble with happiness is that you don't feel it when it's there. You remember it." And I'm glad to remember that this is one of the very few movies I've ever seen that made me glad and ... (simply) happy.