Awesome Movie

The first must-see film of the year.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

From what I've seen of Peter Weir's movies, he often likes to focus on cultures and historical events. "Picnic at Hanging Rock", "The Last Wave", "Gallipoli", "The Year of Living Dangerously" and "Witness" are examples. The rom-com "Green Card" is an unusual movie for him. It's an enjoyable movie. My favorite scene is when Georges attends the party with Bronte and has an awkward experience with the piano.There's nothing special about the plot, but it's an OK movie. As to the issue of immigration, I guess that it should remind everyone that immigrants are what built this country.

I saw this in the theatre in 1990, and a few times on TV, but last night I caught it again on late night TV for the first time in years. 25 years, but I had the same reaction to it, LOL. This is a perfectly terrible, unfunny movie with a script that would be lame on a 30 minute sitcom. It was made solely as a vehicle to introduce Gerard Depardieu to American audiences, and as such was a failure. It also showcased the lovely Andy McDowell, but rather unfairly -- she's either pregnant or post-pregnant here, and although radiantly beautiful, she is hulking around in huge, baggy jumpers and tops. Considering Depardieu is a heavy set man, the combination isn't romantic at all. It's like a "before" ad for Weight Watchers.I'm not saying a comedy about two heavy set people can't be done -- of course, it could be and delightful, with lots of avenues for humor. But that's not how this framed AT ALL. Their weights are not alluded to, except briefly when George (Depardieu) wrongly guesses Brontë's weight as 140 lbs (she says "125 lbs"...well, maybe when not preggers).I think this pretty much restricted the script to "no nude scenes".And oy, the plot: unrealistic and leaden. Not only does immigration law in the US work NOTHING like this (is it possible the all-Aussie crew had no idea?), we are talking about a pretty serious crime. It's not "cute" to defraud the INS. George has no reason to do all this. He could have applied for a work visa, and waited it out. Also, come on -- he's what? 45 or older? What has he been doing all this time? Frankly, though the script was apparently WRITTEN for him, Depardieu is entirely WRONG for it -- and unfunny -- every scene is just painful. George needs to be an eager YOUNG guy, maybe 25 or 30 with some real goal -- something he would NEED to be in America to accomplish.OK, so why 7 stars? Honestly, I remember this movie well for one reason -- it is shot in the loveliest, most charming apartment I have ever seen. It is truly the apartment of my dreams. I've never forgotten it, and 25 years after, I could have described it down to the last detail. I suspect it is only a movie set, but OMG, what a set. (The building itself is real.) Never mind it would have cost a fortune, even in 1989, and never mind it is probably a CO OP (meaning you buy in, and not rent it, and we are talking MILLIONS of dollars). I don't care. It's a dream and a wonderful one -- oh that greenhouse...the koi pond...the fountain.This was the beginning of the shabby chic style, and it was never showcased better than here. Kudos to the set designer. I want to live here. I just don't want to live with fat annoying George, or dull matronly Brontë.Consider watching this with the sound turned off.

This is a very thirties concept some half a century later so it needs something special to make it work and luckily it HAS something special in the shape (literally) of Gerard Depardieu and Andie McDowell both of whom manage to overcome the knowledge that the viewer has from frame #1 that their initial indifference will work its way through mutual contempt to enduring love. The story takes its time to establish the totally opposite personalities of the principals and there are just enough set pieces to keep it bubbling along on a low light. Charm is a good work here as both principals have it in spades and are not shy about unleashing it on a Rom-Com hungry public. One that will stand repeated viewings.

A marriage of convenience to New York environmental activist Brontë (Andie MacDowell) gets French waiter Georges (Gérard Depardieu) a green card to work in America. Brontë gets a sort of "green card" too, in the form of permission to rent an apartment with a rooftop greenhouse. In fact, the colour green is in almost every scene: an emerald green lamp, a nicely placed green wine bottle in several shots, Brontë's clothes, and of course, plants, which appear in pretty much every interior shot –the apartment, a friend's house, restaurants. The exception is Brontë's bedroom (where she's always alone), which is desert colours. This is a very interior movie, and I love how Weir focuses on little details –feet coming down the stairs, the peephole in the front door, water dripping from leaves in the greenhouse –to make the closed spaces interesting. The first time we see Georges and Brontë together, they are saying goodbye on the steps of the courthouse after tying the knot. Suspicion from Immigration agents forces the pair to try proving they have a real marriage. They quickly find that they can't stand each other. But the circumstances force them to spend time learning the details of each other's radically different lives, and then repeat them to the Immigration officials in tones of love and admiration, in order to sound like they are mad for each other. Eventually it has an unexpected effect. The point is that acting and speaking like you love someone can actually bring about what it pretends. I think that's true, even though it goes against conventional ideas of being "genuine", which can simply be an excuse for rudeness. This serious theme is mixed with several situations drawn from the comedy of errors handbook. Green Card has one of the funniest scenes of all time, in my opinion, in which Georges must find a way to convince a room full of New York society people that he's an accomplished musical composer. The laughter is generated by the kind of tension between straight-lacedness and mayhem of a Marx Brothers routine. Bebe Neuwirth as Brontë's friend Lauren is wonderful, nothing remotely like her Lilith character in Cheers, and her reaction to Georges in the musical episode makes the scene even more hilarious.