A Good Year

What do you know about this movie from the title? Not much. Is A Good Year about The Good Year Blimp, Good Year Tires or just a boring yawn about a good year? But since this movie is based on a book,they must have wanted to stay true to the title. Upon doing some research on the author of this book, Peter Mayle, I discovered he writes many books about Provence. And if you're a fan of his, you wouldn't be thrown by the title. But as a movie lover, I must say a different title would have piqued my interest in it before now.

Under the Tuscan Sun is a much better title for both book and movie.  It promises both romance and adventure. Because if there’s one fantasy people seem to have, it’s chucking the day job and becoming a vineyard owner. Since A Good Year is set in Provence, wouldn’t a title suggesting such be a better title? A Vineyard in Provence would have been more alluring.

I’ve been watching a string of really good movies with really bad titles lately. No wonder I didn’t notice some of these movies until they were on HBO. A bad title can’t compete at the box office or with Netflix. But a bad title may get your attention when it’s on your HBO line-up and you’re browsing the listings on a lazy Saturday afternoon.

I suppose they thought they were being clever with the title of A Good Year, especially when you read the tagline: "Everything matures... eventually." I can appreciate the title a bit more after seeing the movie.

The movie starts out with a brash London banker named Max (played by Russell Crowe) but it begins to draw me in as the story unfolds with scenes from Max’s childhood growing up on his uncle’s vineyard in Provence. Albert Finney adds to the enjoyment of those scenes. The plot thickens when his uncle’s long lost daughter shows up just weeks after his death. Will she have a legitimate claim to the vineyard and the chateau?

And we mustn't leave out the love interest in the form of the woman who he really annoys right off the bat. After all, this a romantic comedy--my favorite movie genre.

And in the end I realized one important lesson for every woman. Don’t listen to your mother when she says that men want a “nice girl.” After watching this movie I realized the truth of what men really want is a woman with a feisty attitude and a nice derrière.

Kathy Holmes
www.kathyholmes.net

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