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For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

A lot of fun.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Lay back and let it flow over you. A cool French film: light, 'frothy', beautifully filmed in Paris' theatre district. A pleasure from start to finish. Clichéd? Yes - but who cares. Enjoy it.Well, the system would not accept my short comment - I have to do minimum of 10 lines(!). I do not want to put in any spoilers but here goes - looks like I have no choice. Jessica is a sweet young thing from the provinces, in Paris and looking for a job - and a room to rent. Jobs are scarce but she talks her way into a waitressing job (oops, politically incorrect) - lets say she is a table attendant - at the Cafe des Theatres. While there she comes into contact with a range of interesting people, including Hollywood director (played by the late great, Sydney Pollack - a pleasure to see now that he has left us, a great concert pianist (who wants to give it all up), a soap star who earns heaps but would prefer 'serious' acting, a millionaire dying of cancer who is selling off his his fabulous art collection, a theatres concierge about to retire, and the millionaire's son (and romantic lead, played by director's son and film co-writer, Christopher Thomson). Leaving out the details (thank goodness!) it comes to a predictable and happy ending. Well written, great photography, well acted, a relaxed pleasure to watch.

The French have a term for a film this bad--un navet (a turnip). But turnips are much tastier than this tired, cliché-ridden mess of a film. I can handle a frothy film if it is done well, but this one is careless, with plot, with acting, with everything. Valerie Lemercier gets a couple of laughs as the aging TV serial star, but the conceit that Sydney Pollack would hire her character to play Simone de Beauvoir after viewing a couple of seconds of her absolutely mediocre TV series, plus some scenery-chewing in a Feydeau production, is absurd.The acting here involves lots of smiling (Cecile de France) and trying to look pensive (Albert Dupontel), but no subtlty, no nuance. The only joie de vivre really comes from the gardienne of the theater, who dances around to French pop songs she remembers from her days at L'Olympia. Everything about this film feels forced, especially the budding romance of Fred and Jessica--absolutely no chemistry whatsoever. If you're going to make a romantic comedy, you at least have to have that.Bottom line--a total waste of time.

Greetings again from the darkness. Terrific little French film with many subtle performances and script nuances. Director Daniele Thompson gives the film an intimate feel mostly through the wide and sparkling eyes of Cecile De France as Jessica.There are a few overlapping story lines, all of which the eager Jessica manages to nose in on. While her looks remind of Brittany Murphy, she brings the spirit of Giulietta Masina ("La Strada") to the role. All of the supporting actors do a very nice job, but Valerie Lemercier really stands out as Catherine - the soap opera actor trying so hard to impress big time director Sydney Pollack. Another stand out is Dani, who seems to freelance her way through life and the role.There are some nice shots of Paris, but of course, it is never enough. The pace is traditional French cinema as the dialogue is measured, but the emotions are the real story. Jessica basically lives out the life that her grandmother has spent years describing. While most of the film is upbeat, melancholy is not in short supply. Also, some tremendous music throughout - especially the Liszt and Mozart pieces.

At the end of this delightful, charming and classy film there's a moment just before the End Credits when we fade to black and two words appear in the bottom right hand corner: a Suzanne. I suppose if you ARE going to die in harness at the age of 87 and have the last film on which you worked dedicated to you then you could do far, far worse than choose this for your swan song. Suzanne Flon doesn't have a lot to do here - unlike, say, La Fleur du Mal - but her smile and warmth light up the screen as she tops and tails this gem. In her third At Bat Daniele Thompson hits one out of the park but then after La Buche and Declage Horaire we don't expect less. Three stories are linked by Cecile de France, the grand-daughter of Suzanne Flon's character, who journeys from the Provinces to Paris and secures a waitress job at a restaurant adjacent to both a theatre, concert hall and Auction Room where, in the fullness of time she meets an actress, a concert pianist and a millionaire so jaded that he is selling off the items he's spent a lifetime collecting. Valerie Lemercier scores heavily as a soap queen adored by millions but longing to go 'legit' and play Feydeau on the boards, meanwhile Albert Dupontel's classical pianist is suffocating beneath the weight of his formal dress and equally formal lifestyle but torn between rebellion and the loss of his wife. Thompson's son Christopher is, as usual, on hand as co-writer and actor and as the distant son of the millionaire he gets to romance Cecile. Rounding things out is Dani, a concierge who, over the years has met everybody in show business worth meeting and her karaoke versions of French hit songs punctuate the action nicely. If 'entertainment' pure and simple (not to say Stylish and Classy) lights your fire then run, don't walk to catch this one.