John's Movie Musings

So I got dragged to Paris, je t'aime last night. Yeah, I'd never heard of it either so I amused myself by telling everyone the title translated to "Paris is lame."

Imagine what would happen if you tell 18 directors to write 16 love stories, all set in Paris, and to keep it under two hours. Basically, you'd get Paris, je t'aime (Paris, I love you). Believe it or not, I was pleasantly surprised. It's sort of a gimmick, but it all works --- mostly.

Each story begins in a different part of town with different characters. You get the title of the story appearing in the corner along with the director (including the Coen brothers, Gus van Sant, and Wes Craven). You math geniuses have already deduced that each story runs about 5 minutes. That's a good thing in that there is no fluff and if one story sucks, you only have to suffer for a few minutes. But it's a bad thing, because there were a few stories I really enjoyed and wished they'd gone further with them.

The stories are basically clichéd love stories that have been reworked with a twist. Everything from the Golden Age of Cinema to vampire lovers. For those people who are really into film, this adds another interesting dimension to each story.

But the best part is all the famous actors that play very small parts. I won't ruin it by telling you who's in it (easy enough to find on the web), but there were many moments where the audience chuckled when a familiar face popped on screen.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one. It's worth checking out, not only because it's entertaining, but just to see how each director visioned a simple love story.

Grade: B+