It's Monday and we're in the mood for love.......cause, hell it's goddamn Monday and we need to cheer ourselves up......
So we plucked out, from both this side of the pond and France, two odd but touching romances, one bittersweet, one lightly comedic.
And both worth your time......that is if you are, like BQ, a sucker for love....
Set in New York, we'll first deal with Amira & Sam (2014), a culture clash romance that hits all kinds of hot button issues along the way.....the raw wounds of 9-11, the plight of illegal immigrants (especially those who aided American forces in the Middle East) and the utter corruption and greed of young Wall Streeters who happily made shady millions while mouthing 'thank you for your service' to those who volunteered to fight our endless Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Sam (Martin Starr) is an at-loose-ends returning Army combat vet with vague ambitions of pursuing stand-up comedy......... Amira (Dina Shihabi) the niece of Sam's resettled Iraqi translator friend Bassam, is an illegal refugee selling streetcorner pirated DVDs while dodging deportation.
Bassam's forced to asked Sam to hide and shelter Amira when the authorities catch on to her and once the two get thrown together, a bumpy but eventual romance develops. In a parallel plotline, Sam reluctantly agrees to help his wheeler-dealer hedge fund cousin (Paul Wesley) in wooing a prime investor, a tough-as-nails Vietnam vet, who'd likely view Sam more respect than his overly slick cousin.
These plots dramatically collide, causing a crisis for our lovebirds, but this tiny little indie effort opts for a a somewhat abrupt fairy tale ending.......(which we didn't expect, but enjoyed anyway.)
Modest, but sweet and knowing, we'll smooch out 3 stars (***)......(we did you warn you that we're suckers for this stuff......
Now let's zip over France for Up For Love (2016) in which our adorable oddest of odd couples Alexandre and Diane (Jean Dujardin of "The Artist" and Virginie Efira) face a physical handicap.......he's supposedly 4 foot 5 inches tall (accomplished through digital effects and camera angles) and she's a tall, drop-dead-gorgeous blonde who appears 6'3" in heels.
To the general public around them, they look like an Amazonian goddess who's dating one of the hobbits from "Lord Of The Rings".......but love's most definitely in the air for these two (he's a wealthy successful architect and she's a lawyer struggling through a small law practice with her obnoxious ex-husband as a partner)
Together, our charming height-challenged duo are forced to weather the slings and arrows caused by unfeeling, insensitive people around them, particularly Diane's mother and Ex-hubby. To the film's credit, it doesn't wallow in the special effects shots, but wisely rations them out, sometimes to very funny results and other times to make your heart ache for the our sweethearts.
We never worried for a minute about the end of this little fable, (it's in France, after all) and if this movie doesn't leave you with a wide grin on your face........well, you probably wouldn't be reading these two reviews to begin with.
Yes, it's obvious and pre-ordained, but we loved the heck out of it anyway.....and the subtly comic Dujardin and the stunning Efira may well be our favorite romantic pairing of 2021.... so w're going all out with 4 stars (****).
Thus spoke the Sucker For Love.......
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