Celluloid Heroes

I am now the luckiest kid in America! This must be the biggest discovery since, I don’t know, television or something!

Before he struck it big with Disney, Pixar and The Incredibles, director Brad Bird helmed this minor delight of a movie for Warner Bros. which, sadly, almost nobody ever saw when it first came out. A well-deserved cult status followed its release on home video, however, paving the way for its director to move on to bigger and, although it’s difficult to believe, even better efforts than this.

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You’ll come to see that a man learns nothing from winning. The act of losing, however, can elicit great wisdom. Not least of which is how much more enjoyable it is to win.

Suffice it to say I am not a regular consumer of romantic comedies. Most of them seem to offer all the intellectual stimulation of week-old Twinkies. For a movie in this genre to even catch my attention, it has to offer something unique. In this case, director Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe are anything but your typical “RomCom” tag team, so their participation alone is at least worthy of taking note. Of course, no one can guarantee that this kind of talent pool will ensure artistic success, but despite what you may have heard, this adaptation of Peter Mayle’s novel has more than its share of charms to compensate for a noticeable lack of originality.

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