On L List of Movie Reviews

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A Little Romance (1979)

Rate: 8
Viewed: 2/17

2/17: A Little Romance is a nice, charming romantic picture that takes place in France and Italy.

Although the boy and girl are the main show, it's Laurence Olivier who steals their thunder. He's surprisingly at his best, considering how out-of-shape he was in The Boys from Brazil.

Arthur Hill, who plays the girl's father, comes in a close second. What a masterful job he has done. It's also nice to see Broderick Crawford, the long-time veteran who's an Oscar winner for his performance in All the King's Men which goes all the way back to 1949, having a good time by being himself.

Making her debut role, Diane Lane gives the only good performance of her highly overrated career. She's a natural here. Thelonious Bernard starred in just two films, A Little Romance and Allons z'enfants, before calling it quits. I find him saccharinely annoying as Daniel although he could've been a good child actor for a while.

The biggest trouble is that the young characters are too precocious given their vast knowledge about various subjects. Hence, the film is more suitable for actors in their early 20's. Nonetheless, I prefer A Little Romance over either Before Sunrise or Before Sunset any time of the day because the dialogue is a lot better. Plus, it has kept me interested by being a quirky, cute movie.

All in all, it's hard to stomach A Little Romance because of Thelonious Bernard, but both George Roy Hill's direction and Laurence Olivier's classy performance have made it worthwhile.

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