New Yorker Brontë Parrish (Andie MacDowell) is reluctantly talked into marrying French musician George Faure (Gérard Depardieu) to enable him to qualify for American citizenship. However, their “paper marriage” arouses the suspicions of the immigration department and the mismatched couple are forced to live together to ensure George gets his precious green card.
Depardieu’s much-anticipated English-language debut was, to some extent, lost in the fuss created by the revelations about his wild youth that appeared around the time of its release.
Despite being unoriginal, full of narrative improbabilities and not as funny as it should be, this easy-going comedy from director Peter Weir has an undeniable charm and features two engaging performances, with Andie MacDowell winning you over to her initially cold, calculating Manhattanite.
Weir is a little heavy-handed with the comic set pieces, but he develops the romance with some care and turns the immigration inquiry into a nail-biting tear-jerker.
George Faure
Gérard Depardieu
Brontë Parrish
Andie MacDowell
Lauren Adler
Bebe Neuwirth
Phil
Gregg Edelman
Brontë’s lawyer
Robert Prosky
Mrs Bird
Jessie Keosian
Gorsky
Ethan Phillips
Mrs Sheehan
Mary Louise Wilson
Brontë’s mother
Lois Smith
Brontë’s father
Conrad McLaren
Director
Peter Weir
