Jet Lag | AccessAtlanta

Jet Lag

A couple of stranded passengers strike up an airport affair.

FILM FACTS

Starring: Juliette Binoche and Jean Reno
Director: Daniele Thompson
Rating: R for language and sexuality
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Foreign Language: In French with subtitles

Discuss this film | Official movie site

See showtimes (R) 97 minutes

Grade: C

Verdict: Skip this layover.

By ELEANOR RINGEL GILLESPIE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"What scares me is mediocrity with complications," says Felix (Jean Reno), a former celebrity chef turned reluctant frozen-food magnate.

Reno could easily be talking about his new movie, "Jet Lag," an irritating piffle of a film that pairs Reno with Juliette Binoche as Rose, a frivolous, over-mascaraed beautician, reluctantly on the run from an abusive relationship.

Not only is her life in the toilet, her cellphone is, too. Stranded at Charles de Gaulle Airport by bad weather and the French penchant for strikes, Rose meets fellow strandee Felix when she asks to borrow his cellphone.

After repeatedly running into each other in every contrived manner possible, they end up sharing a hotel room at an airport Hilton. There, they bicker, bond, embrace . . . the usual, while waiting for their flights to get off the ground.

Alas, their movie never does, despite the considerable talent and charm of its stars. The by-the-numbers script, co-written by director Daniele Thompson and her son, Christopher, proceeds in a series of stale variations on the opposites-attract formula. There's even a variation on the "Why, Miss Smith, you're beautiful without your glasses!" chestnut. Forced to scrub herself clean after Felix angrily dumps vinaigrette on her head, Rose lets her natural beauty shine and, as they say in France, voilà!

Admittedly, it's a treat to see two icons play against type. Binoche, who typically plays radiant earth angels (she won an Oscar for one in "The English Patient"), is a surprisingly convincing ditz. Yet she also shows us Rose's vulnerability and her value. And Reno, who usually solves problems with his emblematic French cool and a handy weapon, fashions a fine flummoxed fussbudget. He even manages to make his trademark two-day stubble look less menacing.

"Jet Lag" doesn't fly, but the stars play off each other with such style that it is a lot easier to watch than it should be.