Heartstrings are duly plucked in Michael Radford’s bittersweet tale of a late-life romance between Shirley MacLaine’s perennially sparky New Orleans apartment dweller and Christopher Plummer’s crotchety widower, who becomes her reluctant new neighbour. He is an old grump who wants to be left alone, she’s a force of nature who dreams of dancing in the Trevi fountain in honour of her favourite movie La Dolce Vita.
This remake of Marcos Carnevale’s 2005 Spanish-Argentine production is unremittingly sentimental, unencumbered by grit, except for the sort that gets in your eye. Plummer and MacLaine look like they’re having a ripe old time of it, George Segal and James Brolin provide starry cameos, and Marcia Gay Harden gives good harassed/harassing daughter. But considering the CVs of all involved (not least Radford, who was Oscar-nominated for Il Postino) this remains little more than a gooey footnote.
