Movie Review: A Good Year

Gladiator director Ridley Scott and A-list Aussie actor Russell Crowe team up once again for A Good Year, a film adaptation of the best-selling book by Peter Mayle about wine. Well, not just wine. The film stars Crowe as Max Skinner, a successful and high profile London bonds trader who must make a trip to France after finding out his father figure and mentor Uncle Henry (Albert Finney) has passed away.

With no official will on paper, Skinner inherits his uncle's entire estate, which includes the French vineyard and chateau where he spent summer vacations as a child. Skinner has long departed from what his uncle Henry would have esteemed him to be, and quickly attempts to fix the chateau to sell it to the highest bidder.

CHANGE OF PACE: Max (Russell Crowe) takes a leisurely ride on his motorcycle through the vineyards of his newly inherited estate. (20th Century Fox)

However, there are a fair number of obstacles in his way. For starters the vineyard does not seem to produce even moderate wine; the caretaker and wine-keeper Francis Duflot (Didier Budon) seems apt to make sure no deal is made; and almost too coincidentally, Christie Roberts (Abbie Cornish), Uncle Henry's illegitimate American daughter, appears, putting in question who the rightful owner of the property is.

Through the next several days, Skinner must ultimately decide whether he can forget the memories of his uncle and the vineyard, and sell the property, or become what his uncle had hoped, someone who can cherish something great and have the courage to let it grow.

Russell Crowe brings his consistently strong performance to the screen again and Albert Finney is a delight in his performance as Uncle Henry. Newcomer Marion Cotillard, who plays Skinner's love interest Fanny Chenal, sizzles on screen.

Much like a wine itself, A Good Year has a particular flavor and bite to it, and the more you "drink it," the more it intoxicates you, eliminating the recognition of its flaws.

The film comes up too hard and too fast at times, and it lacks the depth needed for the emotional draw one expects of films of this genre. Flashbacks come out of sequence and with no root to tap into. Generally they are used later in a film after a particular portion of the character's life has been lived on screen as a reference. However director Ridley Scott and screenwriter Mark Klein use these flashbacks to explain a portion of the story that should be have been told instead of reflected upon.

Yet most all of this seems to be remedied through the romance of the idea of taking control of your life and walking away from big-business success to live a full life, filled with family and culture in the south of France.