Review: ‘Broken English’ on DVD

Broken Englishwould be a waste of time if it was not for the ideal casting of Parker Posey as Nora Wilder. The film is a New York based romantic dramedy written and directed by Zoà « Cassavetes the daughter of actress Gena Rowlands.

Nora Wider (Posey) is a thirty something lonely woman who smokes and drinks excessively. She works at an upscale New York hotel. Nora specializes in babying celebrity clients. One of these clients is Nick Gable (Justin Theroux) who takes an immediate liking to Nora. Against her better judgment Nora agrees to go out with Nick and ends up in his bed. Several weeks later while watching an entertainment news story Nora finds out that Nick has a girlfriend. Nora is crushed.

Nora’s best friend Audrey (Drea de Matteo) has been happily married for five years to Mark (Tim Guinee). Nora attends their anniversary party where she is bombarded with questions about her miserable personal life from her mother Vivien (Rowlands). Vivien takes it upon herself to set Nora up on a date with the son of one of her friends. Of course, the man has issues and ends up leaving Nora half way through their first date.

Nora, depressed and alone again, runs into Julien (Melvil Poupaud) a visiting Frenchmen. Julien intensely pursues Nora even though she tells him several times to get lost. Eventually, Nora caves in and the couple spends the weekend together.

When things are finally going her way, Julien drops a bomb saying he must go back to France. Julien invites Nora to come along with him, but she is fearful of leaving her unhappy life. Time goes by and Nora realizes that Julien is the only one who can make her happy so she jumps on an airplane with her best friend, but will she be able to find him in such a large city as Paris?

As Nora, Parker Posey reminds me of a cheerleader for a lack luster team. She shined above everyone so much that the remainder of the cast seemed dull. Melvil Poupaud’s strong, silent, intense type works well as a stand alone character, but it was difficult to accept him falling head over heels in love with Nora at first sight. He is too perfect for the imperfect Nora.

Zoà « Cassavetes’s screenplay is full of clichà ©s. There is nothing different or special. The film has the essence of The Virgin Suicides,directed by Sofia Coppola who happens to be one of Cassavetes close friends, but it’s lacking the magic and feeling that Coppola brings to filmmaking.

If you love Parker Posey, like I do, then defiantly see this film. If you want to see a good entertaining romantic comedy with a neurotic leading lady I would suggest sticking with Bridget Jones’s Diary.

Rated PG-13

No DVD special features.

[rating:2.5/5]