ridiculous rating

From my favorite movies..

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

I managed to find this one on DVD at my public library. It apparently is a "made-for-TV" production by HBO, but it plays much better than most TV movies.Bill Nighy is one of the great under-appreciated actors working today. He can play comedy or drama equally easily, and he inhabits a role so that we really believe he is that character with those mannerisms.Here he is simply Lawrence, working in London. He is a 'work-a-holic' of sorts, we see him reviewing some papers as he brushes his teeth, as he eats his lunch, almost always with some sort of report in his hands. We don't find this out immediately, but it turns out he is a key person working for the Chancellor of the Exchequer (I suppose the similar position in the USA would be Secretary of the Treasury, or something like that), in a very important, high-level role.Lawrence is shy and polite to a fault, and one day he dares to duck out of the office for a cup of tea, the café is crowded, the only place to sit is in a booth where a young lady is already sitting. He works up the courage to ask if he can sit there, and he does. Very awkwardly, bending over backwards to not invade her personal space.That young lady turns out to be Kelly Macdonald as Gina . She is not as shy as Lawrence, actually makes a bit of small talk, even jokes around a bit, and Lawrence loosens up. Barely. As he is about to leave the café, he turns back to her and even works up the courage to ask if she would have lunch with him, and she is glad to accept.It is worth mentioning that Nighy was born in 1949 and Macdonald in 1976. That puts her 27 years younger in real life, and that seems to be about the age spread of the characters they play. But there seems to be a 'chemistry' in the characters, total opposites, that allows them to build upon this initial happen-chance meeting.The big event coming up is the fictitious 2005 G8 conference in Iceland. I say 'fictitious' because the 2005 G8 conference was actually in Scotland. Lawrence was working on figures in support of the 'millenium goals' set in 2000 to sponsor a vigorous program to eradicate hunger and death in underdeveloped countries. As Gina travels with Lawrence to the conference, and a hotel oversight puts them into one hotel room with one bed, the romantic possibilities have opportunity to blossom. But it is all handled in a novel manner, true to the personalities of the two characters.But most of the 'fireworks' happen in social settings with the men of power from the UK and also all over the world. After Gina has learned from Lawrence what is at stake, she ends up lecturing the powerful men on priorities, at one point at the dinner table snapping her fingers every 3 seconds, to signify that on average, a child dies every 3 seconds from lack of food and care.Yes, the film has a propaganda message in it, but the characters of Lawrence and Gina are extremely well written, and the movie as a whole is one of the better ones I have seen in recent months.

One of the best films I have ever seen! A beautiful, sensitive and acutely observant expose of English attitudes and protocols. . It's actually secondary that the background subject matter of the plot is so vitally important in our modern world. . The interplay of nuance between the lead characters is a charmingly captivating carousel of attraction and inspiration. .Yes, I give it 10. 10 because it was a totally intelligent and enjoyable surprise.Well acted and beautifully produced. Enchantingly written by Richard Curtis like all good magic it will envelop you in it's reality.

David Yates' UK television film The Girl in the Café shows what is capable of being made across the Atlantic for the small screen. Whereas in America we get movie of the weeks and after school special morality tales, the British prove that TV should not be looked upon as inferior to the silver screen. Kudos to HBO for seeing the quality put into this tale and releasing it on its channel; I guess airing on a pay channel means a bit more than debuting on network TV in the public's eyes. Finally I see the talent that Yates has, after being quite under-whelmed with his latest entry to the Harry Potter franchise. Let's give mention to screenwriter Richard Curtis, as well though, for his words are what make the film as powerful as it is—with a little help from its two leading actors as vessels for them.We have an older gentlemen, a financial researcher for the Chancellor of England, who, on a break from his hectic all work no play life, meets a young girl in a café. The two have an awkward moment drinking tea and coffee respectively and eventually make a date to meet again for lunch. This relationship is portrayed as strangely as it would be in real life. The older man doesn't quite know what the woman's motives are; does she see him as a friend, a father figure, or a lover? With that kind of confusion, each moment with the two of them is an adventure of uncomfortable tension, sexually and emotionally. This aspect is very integral to the way in which the film plays out, and with lesser actors, it could have failed miserably. Thankfully we have the radiant Kelly MacDonald and the consummate professional Bill Nighy. In a role that is the exact opposite to his part in Curtis' Love Actually, complete with a dream telling of a life he wished to have lived being the one he does in that film, Nighy is remarkable as the isolated businessman who has lost his way in social situations. The ticks we are used to seeing in his performances are very prevalent and his skittishness around the girl he is falling for is true and real. As for MacDonald, she never strays from the broken woman she is playing. We learn very little about her character's past, but what we do find out tells us the reasons for everything she does. Sometimes fate has a way of playing tricks on us. Both these people needed each other at that point in their lives to show them how to live again in a world that is on the quick spiral down the drain. Her past makes it seem as though what she does was premeditated, but "the facts aren't there." Her being thrust into the situations she becomes privy to is coincidence, and she would not be able to live with herself if she didn't try and take advantage.What I originally thought would be a pretty cut and dry love story ends up being very much more. The bond forged between our two leads is paramount to what transpires if only to allow us to understand how it could have been able to go as far as it does. We don't ever get to know if what MacDonald's character says will have any bearing on the G8 Conference she has been at, but that is the only ending I could ever see as fitting the film that lies before it. Through all the turmoil of a love affair between two people around 30 years apart in age, we are also given the strife of the world trying to come up with a plan to stop poverty. The politics are a huge part of the tale and while it does push an agenda, it does it in a way that progresses the plot. This is not a message movie for that effect alone; it is a tale of love and awakening in the world of political agendas and meetings. For that I credit all involved, because they never fall into the trap of patronizing or forcing the audience in any way. What is instead shown is a powerful film of the meaning of morals and right and wrong and how unexpected meetings can change the course of history. With one of the most emotional endings in a movie that I have seen in some time, it is also the sweetest little gem of cinema I've enjoyed during that same duration.

I love watching Bill Nighy. He's got the emotional range most actors envy. Doubt this? Try watching SHAUN OF THE DEAD and then LOVE ACTUALLY and you'll see what I mean. He can be dry as a bone one minute (Shaun of the Dead) and funnily spirited the next (Love Actually).So when I learned that he'd been in an Emmy winning TV movie, I leapt at the chance to see it.THE GIRL IN THE CAFÉ is your basic character story with some fine acting ...if a bit stilted. The stilted feel really isn't that big of a surprise considering this was a made-for-TV flick. Although there was some nudity (which I'm sure was not shown on U.S. television and saved for DVD), the story does have that prime-time feel to it rather than big screen chops.The story is that of Lawrence (Bill Nighy) and Gina (Kelly Macdonald), two lonely souls who meet one day in a café. Lawrence works for the government as an analyst who's preparing for the G8 summit in Iceland. Gina is ...well ...we're not quite sure in the beginning what Gina does. But she's attractive and Lawrence and she chat briefly during the lunch hour. They arrange a second "date" and meet later that week. Lawrence confides much of his job to Gina, telling her about Britain's battle to lead the fight against third world poverty and AIDS, but also mixing his own sense of defeat into the conversation, knowing that much of what he's doing will be bartered down to almost nil come summit-time talks.Gina seems to take most of this in stride, hardly raising an eyebrow at the horrors of money over meals that Lawrence feeds her mind. That is until Lawrence invites her to accompany him to Iceland for the G8 talks.Time and again Gina opens her mouth during high-level dinners and lets spew her mind about the number of dead and dying in third world countries that Lawrence told her in confidence. Battling his job versus his growing attraction for Gina, Lawrence risks all by keeping her at his side.In the end we learn that Gina's past is directly connected with death and that she's not working because of her recent release from prison.Although Kelly Macdonald does an admirable job as the lost but vocal Gina, her lines seemed overly-rehearsed or set to a teleprompter, while Billy Nighy delivers his in an uncomfortable fashion befitting a man who has poor woman skills.The dangers of losing oneself in a thankless job are hit hard within the film's framework, while also showing the battle we forge when trying to form bonds with those of the opposite sex. All of this is done with the G8 Summit looming heavily in the political background, making for some strikingly nervous dialogue that you know will be coming from Gina as the film continues.In the end, this is a good made-for-TV film that Bill Nighy fans should check out.