A Good Year

Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe have become so accomplished in their jobs that it’s hard to think of them ever coming up short on a collaboration. The pair first worked together on Gladiator (which went on to win five Oscars including Best Picture) and will next team up for the highly anticipated drug war film American Gangster. Let’s hope that they fair better with that film than they do with this one. In A Good Year, Crowe plays Max Skinner, a Gordon Gekko-esque investment broker who inherits a vineyard in Province from his recently deceased uncle (Albert Finney). Trying hard not to stray too far from his work desk—he checks in with his assistant every ten seconds—Max travels to Province to gauge the condition of his uncle’s house and determine a worthy selling price. Of course, he ends up remembering the beauty of the home in which he was raised, falls in love with a local girl, and gradually matures in the process, etc., etc. It isn’t that the film is bad in any way; on the contrary, Scott provides a wonderful visual flair and Crowe is quite good in a more lighthearted role (although he is better at playing the money hungry jerk than he is the man who becomes emotionally reborn). The material, however, is more suited for a director like Nancy Meyers (Something’s Gotta Give) and a star like Kevin Kline. Scott, one of our greatest directors, and Crowe, a brilliant actor, should be producing something a little more challenging and a little less forgettable.

Directed by Ridley Scott.
Written by Marc Klein.
Starring Russell Crowe, Marion Cotillard, Tom Hollander, Didier Bourdon, Abbie Cornish, Albert Finney and Freddie Highmore.

Rated PG-13 for language and some sexual content. 118 min.

**½ so says The Fish