2 Days in Paris

Paris je t'aime, moi no plus- Julie Delpy's cheeky unofficial follow up to Richard Linklater's Before Sunset is a kind of anti-romantic comedy about an earnest expatriate Parisienne introducing her neurotic American bf to her parents.

Jack (Adam Goldberg) is anxious to make a good impression, but more anxious about the mold in the bathroom, the skinned rabbit destined to end up on his plate, and the constricting nature of European condoms. He's not much impressed with Paris, either, but duly makes the pilgrimage to Pere Lachaise to visit Jim Morrison's grave (I'm a huge Val Kilmer fan).

A chance meeting with one of Marion's old boyfriends rankles a bit. Then they bump into another. By now he's beginning to suspect she's a total slut. Marion doesn't exactly help herself with two manic episodes: a furious argument with a racist taxi driver and a screaming fit aimed at a bloke at the next table - yet another ex.

How autobiographical this may or may not be is left teasingly open, but the fact that Marion's parents are played by Marie Pillet and Albert Delpy, Julie's mum and dad certainly invites idle speculation.

With her frizzy hairdo and intellectual glasses, as well as her penchant for dizzy rambling rationalizations, Delpy evokes Diane Keaton circa Annie Hall. Tall and bearded, Goldberg physically resembles Tony Roberts, but his wisecracking neurotic hypochondriac style is pure Woody Allen. Although the film has its moments, unfortunately neither of them are remotely as witty, which makes it much harder to forgive their manifest failings. Allen can be irritatingly self-absorbed, but when Delpy yanks her gaze away from her navel, she invariably heads just a couple of inches to the south.

This isn't her first film - she made a feature called Looking For Jimmy a few years ago that nobody saw. She also wrote and directed a short, Blah Blah, Blah - a title that might also have served for her films with Richard Linklater, and indeed, this one. Though at least everyone talks fast (usually in English). Shot on video, a bit haphazardly at times, 2 Days in Paris has a bullish, antic quality that sees it through some rough spots, but a last minute return to voice over at the climax is well nigh disastrous. Most critics have been much nicer about this film than I would have expected, perhaps out of deference to Delpy's resourcefulness and energy. Not only did she write and direct and act in it, she also edited the film and composed the score - which is also pretty blah, in my opinion.

Tom Charity
tom.charity@lovefilm.com

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