Customer Reviews

The Neighbor

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Neighbor (2007) with michelle laroque and matthew modine is a refreshing quirky romantic comedy with a beautiful mature french leading lady - and she has character lines on her face and is real - none of this hollywood plastic airbrushed perfection. It's so nice to find a movie to watch without the top 5 hollywood stars in. Let's see some fresh foreign faces for a change that give an alternative view on life, love and eternity.

This was such a great movie! I really wasn't expecting much - it was a friend's choice. But the film has a really great feel to it. Its got a very satisfying quality to it. Matthew Modine is really good in this one. I don't want to spoil the movie, but there are also some really funny moments. I would watch this film again and again.

Ok, so not all romantic-comedies have to star the young, sexy stars. How about some middle aged types? Or older like Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. This one exudes plenty of quirkiness, some slapstick, and the typical love-hate relationship.

Matthew Modine plays a bohemian, artist-architect(he's actually a painter in real life), divorcee-dad, who just can't get over his ex. A floor below him, lives a driven, french woman, business developer who wants him out so she can live in peace and add on to her place.

He's a bit of a dork, unruly, irresponsible but passionate on principles. She and her equally uptight fiance are major up and comers, organized and planned for every step of the future. It becomes a battle of noncongruences between the neighbors in the worse and funniest ways. That is until they realize how truly unhappy they both are in their separate, weird worlds.

I like the actors- both in their late 40's; her fiance talks about having kids- better hurry up! If you like younger stars in RC's, seek another flick. The story's fun, the ending satisfying. I can live with middle age romances because, well, that's me! Minimum language, no sex, no nudity, but intended for adults.

This film started off a little slow but then it got its grove and developed into a really charming, romantic tale. There are also a lot of laughs in it as well. The acting is very good on both fronts. I would see it again!

I was looking for a movie to watch that was enjoyable, had some charm to it and I found it in this film. I was previously unfamiliar with the acting of Michelle Laroque and she's obviously a very good actress as you see how Christine, the character she portrays, matures and blossoms once she slows down and gets some insight into her neighbor Jeff. Matthew Modine is a combination of funny, charming and somewhat eccentric in his role. I don't like to delve into plots very much when I write a review, as I don't like to spoil things for someone who hasn't seen the film yet. So, if you're looking for a cute romantic comedy that's a little different than most of them and will make you laugh and smile, you may find what you want in this movie!

If you love women, as I do, you will love this movie. Mathew Modine's neighbor and daughter are delightful, and totally realistic. Michele Laroque is the landlady who's trying to evict Matther Modine. Michele is just the smart and moxy star to fill this role, not unlike Saana Lathan in a similar movie, Something New, both smart, intelligent women near the top of their companies. One especially touching moment in The Neighbor comes when the daughter asks to stay overnight with Michele and the conversation they have is so terrific and touching. You can't go wrong with the 1 1/2 hour movie.

"The Neighbor" contains the germ of a good urban comedy, one which all city dwellers face: the obnoxious neighbor whose annoying habits are too close for comfort. The protagonist of the story is Christine, some sort of urban planner, who owns her condo and the one above it. As soon as Jeff, an artist and the tenant of the upstairs condo, moves out, she can renovate both units in time for her wedding to fiance Jonathan, an obnoxious type-A lawyer. Of course Jeff doesn't want to leave, and the battle of wills between the two of them is the plot driving the movie.

Unfortunately, the idea is better than the execution. French actress Michele Laroque plays Christine with Gallic efficiency, but I found it hard to warm up to her. She was perfectly competent, but didn't show much of an emotional range beyond mild exasperation, and I could not for the life of me understand why, halfway through the movie, she is suddenly attracted to her nebbishy upstairs neighbor, despite having despised him through the rest of the film. They have no chemistry together and nothing in the film presages this at all, so when it finally occurs, it just feels forced.

Matthew Modine, well known from "And the Band Played On" and other movies, plays upstairs neighbor Jeff, while Ed Quinn, who was so good as Nathan Stark on "Eureka," plays fiance Jonathan. I think these two actors were in the wrong roles. Matthew Modine's smug smile would have been more believable on the Type-A lawyer rather than the incompetent wreck upstairs, whereas the artsy-fartsy vibe that Ed Quinn gives off would have worked better on the artist. The only believable characters were Gina Mantegna, as Jeff's teenage daughter, and Ann Cusack, as Christine's best friend.

Set in Los Angeles, "The Neighbor" has some funny moments, such as why the margaritas are so salty, and what happens to Jonathan's eyebrows. However, this movie will make you a) glad you live alone, and b) glad you are single.

Do I think older women can be sexy and appealing? YES, I do!

Classic example is Sally Field who is currently 64 years young and still delicious. No joke, she is incredibly sexy, at least to me.

But would I pair her with Robert Pattinson in a romantic comedy? C'mon, seriously?

And for the exact same reason I can't imagine a romantic scene between Wilford Brimley and Scarlett Johannsen. Yikes. (shudder)

This isn't age bigotry - it's age appropriateness, or lack thereof.

No, this was a genuinely fine screenplay completely and totally ruined by yet another unfortunate choice of a 47-year old lead actress trying to play a 30-something. Do I get that Modine was actually a year older than her in real life? Duh. But Matt plays younger and his looks have seriously stabilized since at least the mid-90s; surgery perhaps, but he literally looks and plays like a man in his late 30s. Sadly Ms. Michele Laroque cannot say the same. Sorry cougars you can't win them all.

What I truly wish the filmmakers would have recognized was how good this film could have been had they chosen Ann Cusack for the lead. Remember her? She played the best friend. Ann happens to be one of my favorite character actors and she really should've been given a well-deserved chance to take the lead. This flick would've resounded with a truth and energy that ... well.... what's done is done. Could've, would've, should've. So sad, because I could see this as an amazing film with her in the lead role.

I would categorize this as a pass unless there's absolutely nothing left to watch - scraping the bottom of the rental barrel as it were.