A Good Year (2006)

You may or may not be a Russell Crowe fan (I'm mostly not), but here is something interesting to learn -- although he has mastered an American accent with no problem, he absolutely CANNOT do an English accent. Isn't that strange?

In A Good Year, let's just face it and say that Crowe plays Hugh Grant, as a stuffy businessman who finds himself spending a year (a good year) at a charming, photogenically sun-dappled vineyard in the French countryside, for some reason or another. The point is, he's there to learn about himself, try to grow grapes, and fall in love with a small-town French babe (Marion Cotillard) who, I don't know, teaches him more stuff about himself. I promise I finished this movie.

I can appreciate what Crowe and Ridley Scott were trying to do here. They were trying to take a tired old formula and make it all smartsy to prove that light entertainment can still be quality entertainment. And how can you go wrong with a bunch of Oscar nominees, and an attractive location anyone would want to spend a year (a good year) in?

Well, you can start with Crowe's performance. He is a lot of things, but he is not charming. And he's DEFINITELY not funny. Again, why does his English accent suck so much? Shouldn't it be really easy for him because he's Australian? Just kidding. But he should still be better at it because he's supposed to be a good actor.

And I can't really think of anything else to say except, don't bother.