Lawrence is a mild and unprepossessing British civil servant assigned to his country's delegation at the G8 Summit in Reykjavik, Iceland. Although he'd resigned himself to a life of lonely bachelorhood, Lawrence finds himself drawn to Gina, an odd, outspoken young woman whom he has met in a cafe. On a whim, the shy Lawrence invites the decidedly un-shy Gina to accompany him to Reykjavik. The burgeoning relationship between these two seemingly mismatched souls is counterpointed by the political jockeying at the conference, where the avowed purpose of G8 - to adopt the all-important Millennium Development Goals as a means of reducing world poverty - is obscured by egomania, xenophobia, and foot-dragging. Ultimately, the time comes when both Lawrence and Gina must make crucial decisions, with not only their own future but also the future of humankind in the balance.
Seeing that this film was produced for HBO and I had never heard of it, I wasn't sure what to expect. After watching it, I'm glad I stumbled upon it while flipping channels. It is full of dry, British humor that I loved - the best line was, "The pea soup was awful. I'm pretty sure there were two types of pee in it." In addition to the humor, there was a very serious side to it as well. I actually learned a thing or two about the G8 Summit and some of the issues affecting the world - not sure if the stats they used were accurate, but they were certainly shocking. The romance between the two main characters was unexpected in that I'd never pick those two people to strike up a relationship, but they made it work. The bottom line is that this offbeat film is worth a look as I'm sure you'll be as pleasantly surprised as I was if you give it a chance.
Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: No
Starring: Bill Nighy, Kelly MacDonald
The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment