Green Card ** (1990, Gérard Depardieu, Andie MacDowell, Bebe Neuwirth, Gregg Edelman, Robert Prosky, Lois Smith) – Classic Movie Review 6961

Writer-producer-director Peter Weir’s 1990 romantic comedy is amiable enough but largely unfunny and unbelievable, with Gérard Depardieu showing the strain in his Hollywood debut as Georges, a French composer who enters into a marriage of convenience with American stranger Brontë (Andie MacDowell) so that he can stay in New York.

Georges just wants his green card, that is all, but of course Georges and Brontë have to live together so that he can get it, and they soon fall in love.

The stars try hard to raise a few laughs and a little amour, and are pleasant enough company, but Bebe Neuwirth (as MacDowell’s sassy buddy Lauren) outclasses them. Also in the cast are Gregg Edelman, Robert Prosky as Brontë’s lawyer, Jessie Keosian, Ethan Phillips, Mary Louise Wilson, Lois Smith as Brontë’s mother, Conrad McLaren as Brontë’s father, Ronald Guttman, Danny Dennis, Stephen Pearlman, Victoria Boothby, Ann Wedgeworth and Simon Jones.

Andie MacDowell as American stranger Brontë in Green Card (1990).

And, though popular, it is Weir’s least ambitious, most feeble film, with effort rather than charm showing in Weir’s screenplay. However, some audiences find the movie adorable, and it certainly was popular at the time. Also it was Oscar nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, and it won two Golden Globes – for Best Motion Picture Comedy or Musical and Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture  Comedy or Musical (Gérard Depardieu).

Green Card is directed by Peter Weir, runs 108 minutes, is produced by Touchstone, is released by Warner Bros, is written by Peter Weir, is shot by Geoffrey Simpson, is produced by Peter Weir, is scored by Hans Zimmer, and is designed by Wendy Stites and Christopher Nowak.

Rated suitable for 15 years and over.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6961

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