Year of the Comet

When Margaret Harwood goes to the MacPherson Castle and encounters Philippe in the shots showing Margaret's face, you can see a hair stuck up on her head.

When Philippe's face is shown you can see Margaret's hair is back in place.

This film desperately wants to be a kooky caper film, but the acting is horrible. In capable hands, this might have been a fun adventure, but the acting is so terrible, the actors have no chemistry, and the plot is so jumbled and ridiculous.

In his book "Which Lie Did I Tell?", screenwriter William (The Princess Bride) Goldman talked in detail about how this film became doomed after a sneak preview screening ended with nearly the entire audience fleeing the theater by the half-hour mark (or so I remember reading).

Lighthearted romantic comedy / adventure film that pays homage to the genre's classics from Hollywood Golden Era, in the vein of the resurgence of this kind of films in the 80's such as "High Road to China" ('83), "Romancing the Stone" ('84) and similar in tone to "American Dreamer" (also from '84) and "Miracles" ('86) with elements of a thriller, but in an uncommitted & unpretentious way, thrown into it.The locations were very well spotted, from Scotland's Highlands to French Riviera, with veteran Peter Yates (the man behind such cult movies as "Bullitt" or "The Dresser") on the helm, offering a laid-back direction just for the fun of it, based on an original story by screenwriter William Goldman (who penned more 'serious' & intricate scripts like "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" or "Marathon Man"), both doing a movie about one of their favorite things in life: red wine.

Off-beat quirky romance / semi-adventure film. If you like the more indie-film vibe, this movie is for you.

YEAR OF THE COMETWhat a terrible shame this movie turned out so bad. Within the first five minutes of watching this film I wanted to see MORE.

Take "39 Steps" and add variations on the theme. Here you get two MacGuffins for the price of one.

"They were your friends!" cries Maggie Harwood when she walks in on the pistol-holding, aged but well preserved Philippe.

In an obvious homage to the wacky films of the '40's and '50's, year of the Comet is very good at being what it is - a fluffy film to be enjoyed lightly. It won't cure cancer, it won't change your political ideology, but it will make you smile, laugh, and have a nice 2 hours.

I thought it was a light hearted comedy, made me laugh.It was just full of fun and entertainment.