Accurate, but poorly filmed - 2 Days in Paris Reviews

This is one of those love it or hate it films. The premise, a couple stopping in Paris for two days on the way home to NYC from Venice to pick up the woman's cat, as about as real as they come. The movie speaks to the reason I never vacation with a loved one. And with the same result the couple times I used to. As a frequent Paris-visitor, the familial and sexual aspects of differences between American and French families and friends is very accurately portrayed. I was at at similar party one evening only a few months ago where the patois and flirting were identical. What is missing in this film is FILM...the visuals are boring (it's Paris! Come on!) and where scenes should be in focus, they are thrown out of focus by the handheld camera work. In other scenes, where backgrounds make sense (what's more Parisian than arguing on the banks of the Seine?) the focus uses such shallow depth of field that all you see are faces and clothing...and you completely lose touch with the Paris that is around you at all times. Adam Goldberg is the revelation here -- his work is both over-the-top as well as casually understated at times, as the paranoid and jealous male lover in this couple. This is what I like to consider "Typical Cinema des Francais"...argue, bitch, complain, talk, talk, fight, break up, try to understand why, end with a romantic flashback while rap music plays over the credits. Blah.