A Good Year (2006)

“You’ll come to see that a man learns nothing from winning. The act of losing, however, can elicit great wisdom. Not least of which is, uh… how much more enjoyable it is to win. It’s inevitable to lose now and again. The trick is not to make a habit of it. ” – Uncle Henry Skinner

Number of Times Seen – Twice (26 May 2009 and 21 Jul 2020)

Brief Synopsis – A ruthless businessman inherits a chateau in France and travels there to make a quick sale in order to return to his job in London as fast as possible.

My Take on it – This is a movie that I saw more than a decade ago and didn’t remember much about it besides the fact that it stars Russell Crowe and is directed by Ridley Scott.

Unfortunately, this is an extremely boring and difficult film to get through because nothing really happens.

Scott is an amazing director, but he feels far too out of his element with this film and fails to make it believable or convincing at all because of the way that it all is presented.

Crowe, is a superb actor too yet Romance films like this are truly not his forte because he also isn’t very believable in such a role.

The film’s dialogue and action is quite banal and far too predictable which also hurts things because the story has no impact whatsoever and we have no reason to care about the characters or the situations they find themselves in.

The best part about this movie are the few short scenes with Albert Finney, yet his character isn’t used enough due to the focus of things.

The film’s plot is drawn out and the pacing of things makes it such a chore to get through especially given the fact that it is about 30 minutes too long.

Bottom Line – Really boring and stale romance film that fails to work on any level. Scott is an amazing director, but this is a gene that he just isn’t able to find a way to make enjoyable to watch. Crowe is also a great actor yet he also feels out of his element in this story. The dialogue and actions of these characters seem too predictable and they don’t manage to give us anything to really care about here. The best part of this film are the few scenes with Finney, but they are too short and unfortunately aren’t able to impact the rest of the story well enough. The plot is too drawn out and there are too many scenes that move along too slowly which hurts things far too much.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – According to director/producer Ridley Scott, every scene of the film (except the London scenes) was shot within eight minutes of his home in Provence, where he has been living for 15 years. (From IMDB)

Rating – Razzie Worthy (3/10)