Wednesday 27 November 2019

Under the Eiffel Tower (2018 Archie Borders & co-scr)

In Kentucky, Matt Walsh drinks too much bourbon, loses his job, goes to Paris with his friends and rashly proposes to their daughter (kind of under the Eiffel Tower), who's about 30 years younger than he, played by Dylan Gelula. She turns him down and they part ways. Kind of off camera, Walsh bumps into an injured Scots man (accent indeterminate) Reid Scott (perhaps he only landed the part because of his name), then a French lady - Judith Godrèche - on a train who shares her new wine with the conductor. Soon they are all making friends, well, not the conductor. His was a bit part. We'll never know what happened to him. Sacked himself, I shouldn't wonder, for drinking on the job.

Neither Matt nor his new Scots / Irish / American friend have any money. None. You can hang up your plot there, if you want.

Some stuff in a restaurant happens, and the penniless duo end up on benches. In the morning they just happen to get a lift to French lady's vineyard.. There's still a number of characters to introduce, such as wheelchair bound Gary Cole, who we recognise from The Good Fight / The Good Wife, and a gay couple of bakers and their daughter, and indeed Matt's boss back home, and there's a great bit of dialogue about how much both Matt and the French lady love KFC - as though a French lady of any class whatsoever would admit to even knowing what KFC was. (My theory is they were running out of money at this point and needed some sponsorship money quickly.)

Veep is where we recognise Matt Walsh from. I couldn't work out whether he was underplaying or acting badly.

I must say I enjoyed the scene showing the couple painting. From our point of view it looks like they are looking at the chateau but neither seem to be painting it. They are both painting something similar in shape, but Wilder knows what it is.

Gormless people outside a station
I'm obviously not going to give away the ending. Hope not to meet another Archie Borders film again, though should mention one Kentucky in-joke, the flight announcement from Paris 'direct to Louisville' when there are no international flights there. Is it an in-joke? It hardly qualifies.

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