Wes's Grade: B
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| Kevin Kline and Maggie Smith |
Generally there are a few things that work effectively in most films, and they are kids, old people and animals. The calculated but pleasant new comedy "My Old Lady" doesn't have any animals or kids, but it does have Oscar-winners Maggie Smith and Kevin Kline, and for some that may be enough. Mathias Gold (Kline) is a down-on-his-luck New Yorker who inherits a Parisian apartment from his estranged father. But when he arrives in France to sell the vast domicile, he's shocked to discover an elderly live-in tenant (Smith) and her daughter (Kristin Scott Thomas) who, under the complex French real estate system, can collect rental payments from Mathias until she dies. Directed and written by Israel Horovitz as a semi-love letter to Paris, "My Old Lady" is a charming film, made better by the vastly likable Kline and Smith, though this will no doubt will appeal most to the over 60-set. There are a handful of contrivances and plot twists that are obvious from the first moments of the film, but are made better by the warm tit-for-tat chemistry (the highlights are their conversations over meals) of the leads, as well as Scott Thomas, always a lovely presence in any film she appears in, especially when she begins speaking French. Kline typically plays these types of semi-loser/down-on-your-luck type of guys, and he seems so accustomed to it the effort seems minimal at times, yet he seems to effortlessly have it down pat. "My Old Lady" shouldn't be confused with "My Fair Lady" - it's not a classic musical film - but it's just as likable as that film, and featuring two skilled actors who make its unoriginal material better. Mostly satisfying, it's not the best for those involved but a pleasant experience all the same.
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