. . . France, which has the added bonus of being mostly in English. When there are subtitled passages in a GIRL ON A BICYCLE, they are just as likely to be spoken in German or Italian as in French. Further, the character of Paolo (played by Vincenzo Amato), an Italian tour bus driver based in Paris, is quite good at pointing out how all the quintessential highlights of "French" culture are actually Italian. As you can see, this charming romantic comedy has a lot going for it from the get go. Throw in an ill-fated soap commercial shoot, a madcap tour bus-bicycle chase scene through some fairly narrow streets, and some Hijinks on airliners, and you have the recipe for a flick that kept the audience in stitches during my showing. Nora Tschirner is fetching as Paolo's lover of three years who's nobody's fool, and Louise Monot is appropriately alluring as the title character (though maybe not so much up close and personal). Paddy Considine rounds out the quartet of main characters as Paolo's fellow tour guide, cleverly stepping into the breach to save a situation looking hopelessly muddled.
Review of Girl on a Bicycle
