Film Reviews

Romantics Anonymous

• Rating:
• Director: Jean-Pierre Ameris
• Starring: Benoit Poelvoorde
• Details: France / 80mins (12A).

Kooky, generally used to describe a character played by Zooey Deschanel, is word that is bandied about too often - most of the time by yours truly. But kooky is the only way to describe this romantic French romp. You could also describe it as nice. Or inoffensive. Or light and fluffy. Or instantly forgettable. Any of these would suffice.
Angelique Delange (Carre) is a master chocolatier whose career is hampered by a crushing shyness so debilitating she attends Emotions Anonymous meetings. Forcing herself into the world, she applies for a job in a struggling chocolate factory, run by Jean-Rene Van Den Hugde (Poelvoorde, a million miles away from his serial killer in Man Bites Dog). Jean-Rene has his own problems: he sees a psychiatrist for his fear of women; he loves women, he swears, but is scared that initial feelings of love will turn to hate after a time so what's the point in getting involved? It's only a matter of time before these two characters fall for each other but will their respective emotional problems be too much of an obstacle?
The opening credit sequence sets the tone – a jaunty upbeat and bouncy number ushers the movie into being - and credit to director Ameris for his steadfast dedication to seeing his vision through to the bloody end. For good or ill. There's nothing really wrong with Romantics Anonymous. It's a movie your granny would love: it's short, snappy and there's lashings of old fashioned romantic misunderstandings. There's even the awkward two people-one hotel bed scenario. There's no nudity. Nobody curses.
However, there isn't a scene or line in the movie that will stick in the memory thirty seconds after the end credits roll and that's because the movie has no grounds in reality – Ameris needs guy wires to stop it from floating away. For a romantic comedy to work the audience has to believe the characters and the situation; there aren't spaceships landing or orcs running about but these characters don't echo in the real world. Nothing here would ever happen ever… not even in a Richard Curtis movie.
Carre and Poelvoorde work overtime to keep their slightly irritating characters likeable but Romantics Anonymous just doesn't have any staying power.

Review by Gavin Burke