A Good Year

Max (Russell Crowe), a sleazy, crooked bond trader, gets a tremendously harsh lesson about his evil ways by inheriting his uncle’s beautiful vineyard in France, where he must go to find out about the simpler things in life. Yeah, the simpler things, like taking ownership of a beautiful chateau, drinking wine and courting the local women. Why in hell did director Ridley Scott waste his time on such a terrible project? This is one hellacious, pretentious, worthless movie with a lousy Crowe at its center, sporting an annoying English accent. (We know he’s British—he says “bugger” and “bollocks” a lot!) The dreary present-day stuff is overshadowed by flashbacks featuring the great Albert Finney (as Max’s uncle) and Freddie Highmore (as young Max). The flashbacks, where an uncle tries to impart some wisdom on his young nephew, are far more interesting than anything Crowe’s portion of the film offers up. Scott needs to quit screwing around and make Alien 5. He sucks at romantic comedy.