A Good Year
Starring: Russell Crowe, Albert Finney, Marion Cotillard
Director: Ridley Scott
The film: Peter Mayle's best-selling novel is the source material used by director Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe for this odd little production. It's odd because you wonder how two such talented artists could produce a film that's so lacking in flair. A Good Year is a ponderous exercise that tries painfully hard to present something deep and meaningful about where a middle-aged man's priorities should lie. But you're never convinced that the main players' hearts are really in it.
Crowe goes through the motions with an air of smugness that soon becomes annoying, while Scott rarely gives us anything we can fix our attention on.
The story revolves around an English banker (Crowe) who inherits a vineyard in France. He thinks he can turn a quick buck on the place, but the more time he spends on the property the more attached to it he becomes.