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There is no escaping the three pillars of movie-making: they have always been narrative, cinematography and emotion. If any pillar is weak, the movie struggles but if all three are weak the movie doesn't have a chance. With an appealing plot, a favourite actress, and a road trip across France, how could Paris Can Wait (2016) not succeed?

A story of an unhurried drive through France is full of promise. Neglected wife Anne (Diane Lane) and movie mogul husband Michael (Alec Baldwin) have been in Cannes and about to board a flight to Paris for a long-awaited holiday. At the last minute, she is advised not to fly because of an ear infection and agrees instead to be driven to Paris by her husband's French business associate Jacques (Arnaud Viard). What was expected to be a few hours drive becomes a two-day road trip, meandering into places Anne would never have seen without Jacques' knowledge of local attractions. Jacques is a gourmand who knows every good restaurant along the way and Anne allows him to show off his taste for fine food, French wines and other hidden cultural treasures. The trip is punctuated by long and luxurious meals, and frequent commentary on local history, architecture and customs. Despite Jacques' flirtations, they stay in separate rooms while Anne dutifully stays in touch by phone with her by-now anxious husband and daughter. By the time they arrive in Paris, Michael is showing his wife more attention than he has for years.

For this story to work, it needs rising romantic tension, some surprising revelations or narrative twists, or at least a sense of excitement about possibilities lying in wait. Instead it is two days of small talk punctuated by Anne's photo-taking: even when each reveals an emotional event in their lives it quickly dissolves into banal conversation without impact on their relationship or how we see them. The idea that Jacques' flirtations might succeed with Anne is deflated by his encounters with girlfriends along the way. Even the gastronomic feasts fall flat as visual treats: one plate of something delicious quickly loses its appeal when the plates just keep coming. The photographic delights of countryside France are captured inelegantly through car windows or in other uninspiring ways, and Jacques' informative tour-guide commentary has the tonal enthusiasm of someone reading from a travel brochure. The mediocre script is made worse by dialogue delivered as if Anne and Jacques were paced by a metronome, each taking turns to speak with the same pause between sentences. This lack of spontaneity carries throughout their journey except when Jacques' car breaks down and he immediately springs into picnic mode, grabbing a basket of goodies, and spreading a blanket alongside a lake in a scene that is pure Monet. That's what you do when your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, isn't it?

Given its quality ingredients this film should have worked. If the story represents a personal journey of self-awareness its revelations remain obscure. As it is based on the director's real-life experience, perhaps reality got in the way of creative filmmaking. Whatever the reason, the delicious promise embedded in the wonderful title Paris Can Wait does not even come close to fulfilment.

I expected a lot after reading the synopsis but was highly disappointed after watching the movie. There was an excellent story-line and beautiful landscapes with possibly romantic sequences but despite Diane's good performances, the movie doesn't inspire anything substantial. Main reason is the absence of that spark between the two. Diane is a lovely actress and I would always love to see her in any character which she always does well. But something was missing and she doesn't get the same enthusiasm from the opposite character to show the vibrancy of their connection. Viard is a charming actor and tries hard but he doesn't have the so called Frenchman's sexual flare! He rather looks like an average bus driver to me, not an eager, romantic and intimate kind of a person. I would have expected them to have an intimate relationship halfway through the movie but both looked like not having enough energy or that spark to get intimate.

I wouldn't say I wasted my time but expected more and got disappointed would be more accurate to put it in a nutshell.

The Coppola name comes with big expectations nowadays, but Eleanor Coppola (wife of Francis Ford, mother of Sofia) offers up a sweet, simplistic and somewhat conventional film about a 50 something woman who stumbles her way into a delightful adventure.

Diane Lane plays Anne, the elegant but somewhat neglected wife of a successful producer. They are supposed to take a long-delayed vacation in Paris only for that vacation to get delayed again when her husband, Michael, has to rush to Budapest for work. Anne is initially supposed to go with him, but when a severe earache prevents her from flying Michael's producing partner Jacques steps in and offers to drive her up to Paris. What is supposed to only be a quick car ride slouches into a several day long trip as spendthrift Jacques insists on making numerous detours to sample the architectural, culinary and cultural delights.

The movie is full of clichés (I mean really, a charming Frenchman named Jacques?) but Lane and Arnaud Viard have good chemistry and it's fun playing tourist by proxy as they stroll around the countryside flirting and looking chic. The movie only stumbles towards the end when it tries to get serious.

Early on the film comments about the importance of timing the perfect soufflé so that it doesn't deflate. Unfortunately, while made up of all the perfect ingredients this film isn't time quite write. It deflates a little upon conclusion but much like a soufflé would be, it still tastes perfectly alright.

So own my way to posting this, I discovered that the director, Eleanor Coppola is 80 years old and this is her fist feature narrative. I like that. I assumed that Eleanor was some new 20- something year old Coppola getting into the family business, but as it turns out she's been in the biz along side her hubby Francis Ford for over 5 decades. I mean, this may be her first narrative but the film game an'it new to her (You could probably say that about any Coppola at any age).

Paris can wait was what I like to call a slow burn. It's a great movie that takes it's time getting to the point but it's a very enjoyable romp getting to that point.

And now I'm seeing something about the film I've never seen before. Similar to her daughter, Sofia's film Lost in Translation, the film is about the wife of a film producer who is far too busy to spend time with his wife as he's getting a movie made. She's unable to fly do to ear problems so the husband has one of his employees drive her from Cannes to Paris, and he takes the scenic route about it. Somewhere in this story is a lot of real life I'm sure.

The movie is not for everyone, I would say. I can see that appeal for women who know exactly what it's like to be in a relationship with a man married to his job, but for the most part, I find the movie concentrates or centers around the food of France a lot. Lots of really cool scenes of Diane Lane and her co-star, Arnaud Viard sharing meals with each other, and the meals look great. Far better than the scenery of France. I must admit, I was expecting France to look far more beautiful than it does in this movie, but I guess what Eleanor thinks of this road trip is different than what I was expecting (But what do I know I'm no Coppola).

You know what was great to look at? Diane Lane. So beautiful. I feel like the word MILF does not go with the elegance and grace she brought to the performance. Perhaps Cougar? Either way, smoking hot.

It's a very classically done comedy. You don't see movies made like this anymore. Very laid back and relax with the purpose of everything unfolding naturally.

Like some of the food in the movie it's a required taste, but I recommend taking a bite.

http://cinemagardens.com

I love France, it's a gorgeous country with amazing food and nature etc. This film has no story to it whatsoever, it is more like an advert for France as a destination for the rich and privileged. The film tries throwing in little hints of background for the characters, but it is so slight and barely touched upon, that it is an obvious attempt to add depth where there is none. Rich people driving through a beautiful country. Pretentious, shallow and a complete waste of time.

I am sure the French Tourist Office paid for this movie. A long homage to French food, and wine, and sensuality, real or imagined. Diane Laine, the lady who impersonates chic-lit for chick flicks, is not stretched, and Alec Baldwin, appears and disappears. Who's the French guy? He's charming and such a walking French cliché, but does not set the world on fire. Sigh, what Maurice Chevalier could have done with the role! It's a lovely road trip with no tension, and wonderful food and flowers. It will be a hit in cold Australia, and even more people will visit France, the world's most popular tourist destination, but a great story, no. Quelle domage!

You'd think Eleanor Coppola - wife of Francis and mother of Sofia - would have picked up a few tips about film-making over the years. Even just listening to Francis on the phone or asking Sofia how she's getting on with work. But, no, clearly not. Mama Coppola has no feel whatsoever for romantic-comedy, no clue about what makes a character interesting or believable, no concept of pace or tension, and apparently no interest in dialogue that is anything but banal. What she puts on the screen doesn't much resemble a movie at all, to be brutally honest. At best, Paris Can Wait comes across like a lavish, but not particularly compelling travelogue, fully funded by the French Tourist Bureau. At worst, it evokes some rather dull American housewife's Youtube vlog of her European vacation. You'd also think any movie starring Diane Lane can't be too bad. But Lane - normally watchable in just about anything - is so stretched by the thinness of the material here that her attempts to inject some degree of fun and tension into scenes quickly becomes tedious. It doesn't help that her character is infuriatingly passive and pliable for a supposedly successful businesswoman and the well-traveled wife of a film producer. She doesn't balk at being hijacked on her drive to Paris, or having her credit card snaffled for expensive meals and hotels, and she's astonishingly slow to question the motives of a man who takes liberties and takes advantage at every turn. All in all, Paris Can Wait is an insult to the menopausal women it is so clearly setting out to exploit. The two points are purely for the French cuisine along the way - all of it fully described and scrupulously photographed, as though each canard and poisson is another character in the film. And they might as well be.

"Paris Can Wait" (2016 release; 92 min.) brings the story of Anne and Jacques. As the movie opens, Anne and her husband Michael, a movie producer, are in Cannes and ready to fly to their next location, Budapest. But because Anne has an earache that would only get worse from the in-flight cabin pressure, she decides to go on directly to Paris, where she'll wait for Michael to catch up. Jacques, a business partner of Michael's, by coincidence is driving to Paris and offers her a ride. Off they go, and it's not long before Jacques makes frequent stops to sample the local "cuisine" and show local landmarks to Anne. At this point we're 10 min. into the movie but to tell you more off the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: writer-director Eleanor Coppola (wife of Francis Ford) has been in the movie industry for decades, mostly as a documentarian, and so now, Elelanor, a crispy 80 years young, makes her debut as a fiction feature-length director. Wow. Here she brings us what amounts to a road movie with a romcom undertone, plus a foodie splash for good measure. If you have seen the trailer (which had been playing prominently in recent weeks), the movie plays EXACTLY as you'd expect from the trailer. The only element of the slightest surprise/mystery is: will they or won't they (Anne and Jacques) fall for each other? But even that is almost besides the point, as we watch what amounts to a 90 min. commercial for "la douce vie en France" (the sweet life in France). There are so many restaurant scenes, involving the most delicious dishes and wines, that it feels like the theater should been serving something too. At least, that is what came in my head when Jacques ordered a bottle of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and I thought "where is ours?". Diana Lane is delightful as Anne, radiating pretty much like she did in "Under the Tuscan Son" from over a decade ago. Alec Baldwin is perfect s the neglectful husband, and veteran French actor Arnaud Viard is fine as Jacques.

"Paris Can Wait" opened this weekend at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. The Saturday matinée screening was very well attended, even more so for being a matinée. I can see this film becoming a hit on the art-house theater circuit. For me personally the movie was just a little too straight-forward, and if I wanted to watch a commercial of the south of France, I could've done that for free on the French Tourist Buearu's website. But Diane Lane provides a saving grace (to a degree), so it's all good.

This is not a film. It's an Instagram account. It's little more than watching Diane Lane eating, drinking and taking pictures of her food. There is no actual story or point to this. There is just nothing of substance here.

Paris Can Wait is absolutely a great comedy-romance movie from the talented director Eleanor Coppola.

It is an entertaining movie from the beginning to the end. Great scenery of Paris ,amazing acting, enchanting romance,delicious French food and stunning direction.

Rated PG and suitable for all children .Adults would definitely enjoy it especially when they learn that this movie was screened in the Special Presentations section at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival.

God Bless The Amazing Eleanor Coppola (The Wife Of The Great Director Francis Ford Coppola).

Indeed:" Behind A Great Man There Has To Be A Great Woman.

Diane Lane is married to Alec Baldwin, a successful movie producer. They have a successful marriage and a daughter in her second semester at college. They are at Cannes when word comes that a movie in Budapest needs him on the scene. When Miss Lane's ear infection makes the pilot ground her, they agree she will meet her husband in Paris; his European partner, Arnaud Viard, is driving there anyway, and will take her. So, with misgivings about leaving his wife in the hands of a single Frenchman, Baldwin is out of the movie (except for a few phone calls) and Lane & Viard are off on a road trip. Of course, Viard offers a Cook's Tour of the regions they are passing through, complete with Roman remnants and far more food than anyone can eat, the perfect wines to accompany the food, and remain as photogenic as these two.

It's a chick flick, pure and simple, meant for middle-aged and older women. The food is photogenic (Miss Lane takes photos that would grace the pages of BON APPETIT) and everyone knows Viard, including the manageress of the Lumiere Museum in Lyon. It's a movie about the glories of French Cuisine and Diane Lane, and if it remains PG-rated at all times, there is the offer of a meeting at a well-known clam bar in San Francisco and a jaunt up the Californian coast and Miss Lane staring thoughtfully into the camera after Viard has left.

The director is Eleanor Coppola, the wife of Francis Ford Coppola (it's an American Zoetrope production) and if she waited until she was 80 to make her feature film debut, it makes one wonder how autobiographical a trifle (to borrow a cooking term from another cuisine) this pleasant, minor film is.

I have never called a movie "the worst I've ever seen" after writing over 200 reviews here on IMDb, so this isn't an exaggeration.

This movie should be accompanied by a Frenchman Cliché bingo card. Smokes heavily, infinitely in tune with nature and food, infinitely charming and loved by one and all, lover of all beauty, superior to Americans and not afraid to point out why, sex obsessed and not afraid to hump leg of partner's wife, and wine snob. Bingo! There was zero chemistry between the protagonists who ate and drank their way across a small swath of France. Another game to play while watching this disaster would be to count how many times Diane Lane lets out a sigh (hint: over 100) every time she is overwhelmed by the beauty of all things French, or maybe it was just her wondering why anyone would cast her in a leading role? Alex Baldwin is the only thing good about this bomb but don't expect him to save the day because he only has a cameo role abandoning ship in the first ten minutes.

The whole premise of the film is ridiculous: a married woman drives to Paris from the southern coast with her husband's business partner. She is supposed to be the wife of a movie producer yet she acts like she's never had a glass of wine or has eaten in a restaurant before that didn't use plastic utensils. There wasn't a single intelligent dialogue exchange in the entire movie.

When the director isn't boring us to death by showing people eat and drink she bored us with dialogue plagiarized from Wikipedia.

"Did you know that this region is called Provence because it was a province of Rome?"

Or "Did you know that it was the Romans who started wine making in France?" "I did not know that."

Of course she didn't because she's a complete idiot.

"Paris Can Wait" is one of those escape type drift away movies that has one to reflect on the fine things in life like arts, culture, great food and wine, it proves that for so long that life can be carefree. Set in the south of France with Anne(Diane Lane)a middle age woman who's going thru the middle roads of life, decides to break away from her husband a tough and work a lot movie producer(Alec Baldwin). And Anne takes a road trip to Paris, with one of her husband's best friends and on the road trip it's a journey of thought and seeing of the sights for Anne. Really it's an adventure of arts, wine, and food. Also underneath it all reflection and memories and escape all are written over Anne's face, plus a possible new love and romance interest seems to begin. Overall good escape film that shows one can drift away from the present life with an adventure journey.

Thought it would in a way be a quirky movie,similar to Under The Tuscan Sun.

But as others mentioned felt like Paris bound advertising,but with nothing unique as a selling point.

I normally like Diane Lane,but even that fact couldn't save this bore fest.

Need sleep or have insomnia? Watch this!

Diane Lane has done this before.... being dragged thru France by a pushy, presumptuous French guy, once at 12 yrs old & again at 52 - both ending with an anxious awkward kiss. This second time around was less magical but apropos after 40 yrs of living Life. A LITTLE ROMANCE had lot of LAURENCE OLIVIER and PARIS CAN WAIT had a bit of Alec Baldwin. Each movie portrayed people who were supposed to love Diane's character but overlooked her needs. Both movies gave her opportunity to grow & experience things unknown. All and all, if you are Diane Lane fan, this movie is nice to experience - especially if you saw her in that first flick. Wonder if she could do this again in another 40 years? "A chacon son gout"!!

there is no story here. i don't even know what this thing is. i don't know how they convinced 2 Hollywood stars to be in it - but only one of them actually plays the lead role opposite some C lister. it's basically about a married woman hitching a ride to Paris with a french glutton. she takes pics of everything with a digital camera - but uses the viewing window instead of the screen display - i don't know anyone who does this or what the point of it was - it's so weird. total snoozer.

Brava to Eleanor Coppola, directing her first movie, for daring to make a film that's about enjoying life. That's basically the plot. Diane Lane plays a woman, married to a successful Hollywood producer (Alec Baldwin), who is unable to fly to Paris due to an ear complaint. And so, instead, a French associate of her husband, played by Arnaud Viard, drives her across France to Paris. What ensues is a few days of beautiful scenery, food, wine and above all two people enjoying each other's company. It shows how we sometimes forget how just talking and taking in the good things in life can be wonderful. Albeit that these characters are affluent, can afford to go gallivanting around the French countryside and don't have to work. I can imagine that viewers who like a lot of action, and indeed who like a good plot, in their movies, will be infuriated by this film. This is a very European style Hollywood film and pays tribute to the French style of relationship films, as opposed to the more blustery American style, in which the woman would undoubtedly be more angst-ridden than Lane's character here, who is quite amused and laidback. Viard's character lays on the charm in order to romance the Lane character, but he's also entertaining and funny. This would be a good movie to watch on a plane or on a rainy afternoon or if you were sick. You just sit back and enjoy it.

I will always remember this movie because it is one of the worst movies I've ever watched. The question that continue to come up to me while watching this film was "Why?" Why did they ever allow this movie to be made? The answer, of course, is that the writer/director is the wife of Francis Ford Coppola. Every day, much better scripts than this one get shredded and forgotten, but Hollywood paid real actors and production crew to film this. I suppose no one had the courage to tell her how misguided the project would be.

I guess that this film can serve a useful purpose if it can serve to instruct film students on the perils of funding rich people's vanity projects. Perhaps, one day, someone will make a satirical docudrama about the meeting of this movie. I would pay to see that!

What a nice change to see a movie that is just a lovely little vignette in a mature woman's and man's lives, that was shot on location in one of our planet's beautiful countrysides, that contains mature sexual innuendo without gratuitous acts or nudity, that contains no profanity, that stars one of the most appealing actresses ever, the one and only Ms. Diane Lane, and that left me hoping for more movies like this one. Would have liked more of Alec Baldwin's humorous character -- one that suits Mr. Baldwin's comedic acting talents. Congratulations to Ms. Coppola for directing such a wonderful movie at age 80!

I love movies about leisurely travel, eating and talking and this movie fits the bill. The movie is about travel across France while touching some beautiful places. I wish I could go on such a relaxing road trip. Any road trip I attempt in the place I live is nightmare.

The places shown here had no or few people. If you want a relaxing trip the lesser the people the better it is. This is like a fantasy come true.

Very disappointed,looking for a Comedy,romance,I laughed once, when the mechanic took the replaced fan belt off, so bored. Scenery lovely,food and wine looked very delicious. I could not recommend this movie to my friends, A few people walked out through the movie,not a good sign. Waste of money.

This is a slow building beautifully shot romantic comedy that is character driven. It's a far cry from some of the films that purport to be comedy or romance with the absence of script, acting or direction.

In an age of instant analysis and fast moving stories it is clear that this film is not for everyone. If you liked Under The Tuscan Sun you might like this film. The humour is subtle as is the story.

I was tempted to give this film a pass based on the negative reviews and found the few really positive reviews reflected my own film bias.

It is a quirky film that will give you pleasure of you like this type of film. If you're unsure- read the reviews and weigh the ones that reflect the type of film you like.