L'amour guide: A bit dusty, but charming enough

Is this worth your time?

Honestly, it depends on how much patience you have for movies that move at the speed of a Sunday afternoon nap. If you dig old-fashioned romance and don't mind the occasional scratchy audio, you'll probably get a kick out of it. If you need explosions or a plot that makes sense every second, skip it. You will absolutely hate this if you get bored by people just talking in rooms.

There is this very good dog in this. Mutt the Dog carries more scenes than he probably should, honestly. There's a specific moment where he just stares at the camera for way too long, and it somehow feels more honest than half the dialogue.

Maurice Chevalier is in this, doing his thing. You know exactly what you’re getting with him. He’s charming, he’s French, and he’s always about two seconds away from breaking into a smile that takes up half the screen. Sometimes it’s a bit much, but it works here.

I couldn't help but think about Kiss Me Again while watching this. It has that same weirdly specific energy where everything feels staged but somehow cozy. Like a house you’ve visited in a dream.

The pacing is… well, it’s not exactly fast. There are sequences that just hang there, letting the actors breathe, which I guess is the point. Still, I caught myself looking at my phone during a long scene involving a hat. I don’t even remember whose hat it was.

Maybe it’s the era, but there is a lightness to how they handle the drama. Nothing feels like it actually matters, which is kind of refreshing. It’s not trying to change your life. It’s just trying to get you to the end of the reel without falling asleep.

Random notes from the notebook:

• The lighting in the second act is surprisingly moody for a rom-com.
• I’m pretty sure one of the extras in the background is just reading a newspaper upside down.
• The dog definitely deserves a better agent.
• There is a distinct lack of urgency that I’m choosing to call 'deliberate style' instead of 'poor editing.'

It’s not a masterpiece. It barely holds together if you think about it for more than five minutes. But there’s a sweet, weird soul to it that you just don't see anymore. Sometimes, that’s enough. 🐾