A GOOD YEAR, BUT NOT SO GOOD A MOVIE

Do you love the French cultures and accent and French babes? Are you into love stories? If yes then this one's for you. Personally, I was fooled by the stars in this movie. I mean, Russell Crowe and Marion Contillard are stars that I like. Russell's movies are usually very good and Marion is just one gorgeous chick that I happen to like. So a combination of them is like Sushi and wasabi, but maybe not as delicious.

The movie was a total drag for me. Romantic but boring and I just don't get the whole point of the movie. There is a meaningful message in the movie but I just feel that it is not accentuated enough. I was left untouched at the end of it. I believe that the movie is trying to convey that winning is not everything. Money is also not everything. Sometimes, love and the simplicity of life is what truly matters. I get that but the delivery of the key messages is not substantial enough. I find the whole movie a soulless in some ways.

Basically the story tells of Russell Crowe who is a guy who is all about winning. He is good in his job and he uses cunning tactics to make money. He is in the share market industry and he manipulates the share prices by buying the shares and then suddenly sell everything, causing share prices to drop due to panic among other investors. Then Russell will buy back the shares at a lower price. Something like what George Soros did, which caused the 1997 Economic Crisis. I'm not good at explaining how the share market works but my dad is darn good at it.

My point is that this Russell in the movie is making big money for his company but suddenly his uncle, who took care of him since he was young passed away. His uncle left him the vineyard and a beautiful mansion in France, in which Russell grew up in. Russell then has to fly to France to settle the legal procedures in order to officially own the house. He plans to sell the whole house and vineyard, and therefore selling away all his childhood memories he has of that place. Besides, causing his uncle's long-time and loyal worker his job at the vineyard.

The movie consists of flashbacks of his childhood with his uncle, flashbacks of some of the advices his uncle gave him. For example, Russell Crowe's character is all about winning and making money. His uncle would say, there is more to be learned when you lose than when you win. But of course, don't repeat the same lost.

I must say, I like the advice. Reminds me of my dad's principle. When we get our results for our test, my dad doesn't look at the marks, but whether or not we've learned from the mistakes we made. He hates careless mistakes, but justifiable mistakes, he loves. He always say that he loves the red colours on our test papers because it shows learning opportunities. That's why, everytime I get my test papers, I'm not worried about confronting the marks I get, but whether or not I made GOOD mistakes. But then again who am I kidding, I do too want high marks.

As the story develops, after spending one week in the mansion, Russell's character finally realizes what is truly important. Plus, he met a girl he love and that's where Marion Contillard comes in, no surprises there.

I guess Russell in the end realizes that making money is not as important as having a hot girlfriend.

Watch this movie only if you are in for some romance. Even that, I don't think you'll be head over heels over the movie. Well, just my opinion. My bro thought A Good Year was "a good" movie...well, some of us have better tastes.