TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

michaeljayallen It's supposed to be a realistic-ish adult movie, filmed in real Manhattan locations like the Film Forum. It has a kind of flatly realistic tone. But it came out in 2007 and Nora and her friends all smoke ALL THE TIME like it's 1965 without bothering to go outside. She wears silk dresses all of the time, of varying lengths including really short, one after another. Then suddenly she's got longish denim cutoffs on. But of course with a loose ballet style top. She has emotional breakdowns all the time in public. She's having dinner with some guy and her married couple friends and she acts like a 13 year old who doesn't want to be there. She walks out of her job in an emotional huff, again like a 13 year old, not a 30 something. New York (and Sarah Lawrence graduates everywhere) 30 somethings have learned how to hide everything. She just seems more high maintenance needy than anything else.Her and her friend ask the Paris cabbie to find a nice but cheap hotel. He delivers them to a place where the room is plain but looks newly done and is roomy for a big city, has a HVAC system, and everything is color and pattern coordinated. They sneer. There's a hair dryer on the wall and they go to bed with towels on their heads. She wears all kinds of different outfits in Paris and doesn't really have any luggage, just two small to medium sized bags.SPOILER ALERT (although these points were mentioned in media reviews)All very not-normal for NYC and Paris in 2007. Then of course the obligatory not being able to figure out a way to get a phone number, for a person who is a professional high end fixer as Roger Ebert wrote about. Actually she doesn't even try. And then she acts oddly distant when she (one in a million chance) runs into the guy on the Metro.So it's not just like Roger said that there's suddenly a plot point necessitated unrealistic problem, but that the unrealisticisms run throughout a film trying to be realish.If it comes up on your local PBS station, what the heck, maybe watch it. I did. It was oddly completely washed out and I had to adjust everything to abnormal values to get it to look halfway decent, but who knows whose fault that was.

Roland E. Zwick Zoe Cassavetes' "Broken English" is a comedy/drama about an attractive young woman who, through her neuroticism and emotional insecurities, keeps sabotaging her own happiness. Even though she works as a manager and troubleshooter at a trendy Manhattan hotel, Nora Wilder doesn't lead what one would call a particularly fulfilling life. Unable to make a lasting connection with any of the men she meets, Nora finds herself drifting from one meaningless encounter to another, a situation that only exacerbates her already deep-rooted fears and vulnerabilities.In its structure, "Broken English" has a freeform looseness that keeps it from feeling over-plotted and contrived. And while there are times when the movie seems to be serving up pretty much the same scene over and over again, Posey's winsomeness and charm make us care about the character. In fact, without her, the movie would be considerably less compelling than it is. She manages to make a likable figure out of a character who might otherwise be seen as excessively whiny and self-pitying. And even though the mood of the film is generally light and playfully ironic, there is some genuine pain in the story as well, as Nora struggles with the very real issues of loneliness, panic attacks and depression.The actress receives impressive support from Drea de Matteo ("The Sopranos"), Peter Bogdanovich, Gena Rowlands, Justin Theroux and Melvil Poupaud, but the movie is Posey's all the way.

Edward Chan Some films seem "long" because it demands the audience's attention at all times, others are so because the audience is bored. "Broken English" falls comfortably in the latter.I have a feeling, in making Broken English, Cassvetes sticks with "safe" grounds. The topic, the set, and the characters are nothing new to those familiar to the "chick flick" genre. Being an independent film, she could have been a little more bold in her story, but she was too worried about pleasing the judges than the audience.Instead, it is reduced to a "checklist" independent film. Lead role with obvious personality flaws - CHECK! Cheated by playboy celebrity - CHECK! Man in "sexy" accent - CHECK! Nice guy and gay friend - CHECK! Ethnic representation (Jewish, Hispanic, Asian, etc) - CHECK! Friend has secret psychological problems - CHECK! "Romantic" location for ending - CHECK!The interesting thing is, the broad brush Cassavetes used to paint the "typical" American woman: perpetual depression, distorted reality, aimlessly looking for "happiness" in the wrong places, fear disguised in a sense independence. Is this the message she is trying to convey?To sum up, "Broken English" tries to be groundbreaking, or topical, or both. But it ends up being a paint-by-number independent festival film. The distinction comes not from the satisfaction of the audience, but from the tick marks on the judges' evaluation forms. I hope films such as "Broken English" is not indicative of the trend in independent film making, but I am probably wrong.

ThrownMuse One of my most anticipated films of the year turns out to be a bit of a typical rom-dram snoozer. Despite a stellar cast, Zoe Cassavettes' first film is a bit of a misfire. It seems she was going for an old-school type of romance film with a modern (yet unoriginal) twist, but I watched this thinking "If I wanted to watch an old-fashioned romantic drama, I'd rather just watch a movie from the 40s." Not to compare this to the breakthrough film of that-other-daughter-of-a-famous-director, but this totally has a "Lost in Translation" vibe going on. Except it isn't nearly as engrossing or well-made. The movie's best feature is, of course, Parker Posey. I do give credit to Cassavettes for taking a chance to show something that not many other directors have been willing to do--that Posey is a brilliant dramatic actress. Sure, she's a brilliant comedienne and this is what she's known for, but one look at "Broken English" or "Personal Velocity will" prove that this woman is every bit as good as your Streeps or your Hepburns. She just needs better roles! Justin Theroux is excellent, though only in the film for 15 minutes or so. I do fear he's getting typecast as the cocky yuppie or Hollywood type. So this one isn't a total waste of time, but I'd say it's for fans of the cast only.