This is the epitome of a chick flick: Nora is 30-something single woman in New York City, friends are all partnered up, she only meets loser guys, she is feeling lonely, drinking too much, having anxiety attacks, and basically spiraling out of control. screen-capture-4 But just when it gets to the edge of too much, in pops charming Frenchman Julien. By now she is totally jaded and nearly pushes him away, but succumbs to his charms and allows herself to have a wonderful weekend with him only to find that he is leaving to go back to France. So what does she do? After a bit of soul searching and a visit to a psychic, she quits her job and heads to Paris to see him. Only she loses his number (and he has a name like Smith so no phone book.) Won’t spoil the ending, but it is mostly a fun little movie.

“Broken English” was written and directed by Zoe Cassavetes, and stars her mother Gena Rowlands as Nora’s (“you should have married him, he has a great trust fund”) mother. Drea de Matteo plays Nora’s best friend Audrey who is questioning her own perfect 5 year-old marriage and runs off to Paris with her to get away. There are more than a few single woman cliches and a couple of very old jokes on French/English misunderstandings (not to mention a deus ex machina ending,) but I have always enjoyed Parker Posey and as Nora she does not disappoint. In addidtion, the French guy (Melvil Poupaud) is very cute and charming and you will probably wish as I did that there was more with him. And even though I am not the neurotic mess portrayed by the main character Nora, I get her frustrations with looking for love and feeling like you are the only one in the world who just doesn’t get it. No tissues needed here. Just a glass (or bottle) of a nice little French wine. “Broken English” was released in 2007.

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