SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Majorthebys Charming and brutal

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

stevewyzard What's so great about this movie? Most people dismiss Green Card as just another "romantic chick-flick comedy", but it's FAR more than that. While not a "message movie", it's actually a light commentary on the institution of marriage, and what makes it work.It starts with a premise that everyone can recognize: two people who can barely stand each other must put aside their differences for a greater good. The actual wedding (and its attendant emotions) is carefully avoided, only to drop us into the lives of our protagonists as they are suddenly forced to make their marriage of convenience appear real. Only when they do the hard work to make it real, does it actually become real: the emotions experienced are the result of the commitment, not the motivation for the commitment. In other words, if "luck is the residue of design", then love is the residue of commitment.This is not to imply that the movie is perfect, but it does hold up very well after all these years. Yes, the clothes are very much of their time and there are a few "groanable moments", but for the most part I see no reason why people not born when the movie was written and filmed shouldn't be able to relate to the story and understand what the producers were "getting at".With beautiful scenery and an outstanding cast, this movie was also very nearly prophetic in anticipating all the "singles in the city" movies and TV shows of the 1990s (of which Friends is the most famous example). Which is not to say that Green Card was the only movie of its time with those qualities, but merely IMHO the most exemplary. Would there be a Hallmark Channel today without movies like Green Card?

Michael Neumann Director Peter Weir appears to have been 'Moonstruck' in his latest film, a fizzy romantic comedy about an inconvenient marriage of convenience between uptight, uptown Andie McDowell and rogue Frenchman Gerard Depardieu. When the INS comes knocking at McDowell's door the couple suddenly has just 48 hours to get acquainted and invent a mutual history; predictably, they fall in genuine love as well. It's an amusing, if somewhat one-sided courtship: Depardieu may be a slob, but he's a cultured, passionate slob, and because everyone except McDowell loves him on sight (and since there isn't any competition from her arrogant, politically correct, vegetarian boyfriend) it's only a matter of time before Depardieu charms her down from her ivory tower. Romantic comedy obviously isn't Weir's forte; he supposedly wrote the script with Depardieu in mind, but it's too bad the same can't be said for McDowell's underdeveloped character: an urban fairy tale princess waiting for the frog (no pun intended) to kiss her. The film nevertheless shows the same economy of style that highlights all of Weir's features, and it benefits from the winning presence of Depardieu, whose energy translates well into any language.

DAVID SIM Green Card was made at the time Peter Weir had been making an attempt to break into the Hollywood mainstream. In his native Australia, Weir made some offbeat but effective horror/fantasy films, in particular the beautiful, atmospheric and very eerie Picnic at Hanging Rock. After the move to America, Weir's output has become somewhat sporadic, but his films are never less than interesting and have a refreshing intelligence among the predictability's of US fodder.Green Card was Weir's first film after having huge success the year before with the excellent Dead Poets Society. And while perhaps a little more straightforward than what he usually goes in for, Green Card is a superior rom-com that mostly avoids the clichés that come with the genre.Green Card has a plot that could easily be built out into a US sitcom. An American woman marries a Frenchman so he can get his green card. And she can get the apartment of her dreams, which is available only to married couples. When Immigration start snooping around, they have to put on the pretence of being married, and that includes friends and family. Naturally they're different in every way. She's a prissy, prim and pretentious snob. He's a crude, rude, and lewd slob. But they're falling in love anyway.Its a credit to Peter Weir's skills as a storyteller that he can make such a contrived scenario fly. But he does. Obviously a personal project for Weir, he wrote, produced and directed it. Which means his unique vision is stamped upon every aspect of the film. In the hands of a more pedestrian writer/director, Green Card would have you running for the nearest exit, but Weir's confident, assured direction hits a lot of the right notes.There's a common theme that runs through much of Peter Weir's films. An outsider in a foreign land. In The Truman Show, Jim Carrey was a real man surrounded by a fictitious world. In Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams was a free-thinking teacher at a conservative prep school. And in Green Card, Gerard Depardieu is a foreigner in America.I think Peter Weir shares a special kinship with Depardieu's character, Georges. They're both foreign men trying to work in an alien land. Weir's script refreshingly avoids all the usual clichés. It never has Georges as a bumbling, blithering idiot bound by the language barrier, as other filmmakers would have been tempted to do just to get easy laughs. Green Card attains much of its mileage from Georges quiet awe of his adopted country, and his slow discovery of the woman he married out of convenience.In his first English speaking role, Gerard Depardieu does very well. In fact he does much better than he has in any of his subsequent film roles. He never overplays his hand, or makes Georges too broad as a character. His acting almost verges on minimalism, but he gets across to the audience without ever sacrificing his realism.Andie MacDowell spends all her time now promoting Loreal, but Green Card shows there was a time when she actually did concentrate on an acting career. I've never been much of a fan of Andie MacDowell. Although radiant, she often seems rather remote as an actress. Like she prefers to keep the people she works with at a distance. Despite the occasional gem like Groundhog Day, MacDowell hardly ever impresses as an actress.In the case of Green Card, Peter Weir has made the wise choice of creating a character for her she's suited too. Bronte is supposed to be an aloof, distant society gal, and its something that fits Andie MacDowell's temperament perfectly. Her quiet exasperation with Georges' lifestyle is very amusing, and even if her timing is slightly off, most of the lines Weir gives her are usually on the nose.Green Card is one of the few films where we have the rare pleasure of seeing the extremely underrated Bebe Neuwirth in a major role. And she doesn't disappoint as Bronte's spontaneous, larger than life friend Lauren. Bebe Neuwirth always has tremendous charisma, and never fails to dominate the screen. Best known for playing humourless ice maiden Lilith Sternin in Cheers and Frasier, Neuwirth is one of Hollywood's unsung actresses.Lauren's observations over Georges and Bronte's 'relationship' are hilarious. Neuwirth has an uncanny ability to be eye-wateringly funny and then turn serious at a moment's notice. In fact one suspects she would have made a much better Bronte than MacDowell does. Bebe Neuwirth is by far the better actress, and its sad she's not in the film more often. She lights up the screen whenever she's around. Love the look on her face after she hears Georges' piano concerto at a plush dinner party! Worth the price of admission alone!Peter Weir's films are often lush and attractive to look at and Green Card is no exception. We get to see some beautiful photography in Bronte's greenhouse. Lush greens and relaxing streams. Beautiful sunsets highlighted by the Manhattan skyline. Accompanied to a wonderful whimsical film score by Hans Zimmer, with haunting vocals from an uncredited Enya.As things draw to a close, Green Card becomes quite intense. We know that Georges and Bronte are getting closer, but the Immigration interview hangs over them both. They desperately need to get their stories straight if they ever hope to get through this. And much as he did in Dead Poets Society, Peter Weir shocks one and all by ending things on a real downer. They don't succeed. And Georges is deported back to France, just as they've admitted their love for each other.Green Card may not be one of Peter Weir's classic films, but its a refreshing antidote to Hollywood's sugary sweet romantic comedy genre. It has an intelligent stride that is very fulfilling, and an ending that will leave you depressed for days afterwards.

ianlouisiana How is it that only the French male can be attractive and ugly at the same time?Step forward Monsieur J-P Belmondo,M.Yves Montand,M.Charles Aznavour,M.Fernandel.....no.all right,he's just ugly,but the others have the certain something that appeals to women(and some blokes) all over the world.M.Gerard Depardieu is not only ugly he is distinctly chunky - quite fat actually, without wishing to legitimise sizeist stereotyping.However I am reliably informed that far from being a cheese-eating surrender monkey he is widely regarded as thinking-woman's crumpet. In "Green Card" he plays a French avant-garde composer living in New York. He wants to stay,the Immigration Service would rather he didn't. In order to ensure his "Right to Remain" status he engages in a marriage of convenience with slightly weird Miss Andie Mcdowell.In a splendid quid pro quo she needs to be married to get a roof garden(It's New York,go figure).Everybody's happy then?Well,not quite,that nasty I.N.S.are to conduct an enquiry into their marriage.Zut alors!What's a garcon to do? Prove to the I.N.S. that he and his femme are in love of course.Bien sur.Get ready to book your flight back to Paris,France,Monsieur. M.Depardieu is an elemental force of nature,Miss Mcdowell a little staid.What follows is a comedy of errors with high stakes for both of them. "Green Card" relies mainly on M.Depardieu's Gallic charm,Miss Mcdowell being,frankly,a little underwhelming,and he carries it off with no little panache.If I were she I would keep a close eye on him once he'd got his carte verte.