Mr. Hulot's Holiday. 3.5 out of 10.
This was a tough film to slog through. Maybe I had high expectations for it but I think it wouldn't even meet low expectations. There were only two moments that I laughed. Another handful that got a slight chuckle. The rest of the movie is.... well, it seems to be all set-up and no punchline. It's very odd. The editing seems to be off. Scenes are shown that don't seem to have any relevance to anything, the movie just seems to want to hop to another scene before any sort of pay-off is reached in the preceding scene. I didn't mind the movie's main score but it just seemed to be one theme played over in various iterations.
Just thinking about it brings out a frustration of expectation unmet. The movies keeps establishing things over and over and you expect them to lead to something but that something never comes. Like the man who is always running to the phone because of business or the old man and lady out strolling everywhere or the young man always spouting Communist Manifestos. The weird thing is, thinking back I can think of all kinds of gags and bits that are sort of funny on their own but in the movie with the way it unfolds and the pace, it just seems to kill any humor.
What struck me as I was nearing the end of the movie was that this was like a real life Harvest Moon or Animal Crossing. You have all these defined characters in this little villiage and they all act the same every day as the wander about the villiage each day. After conversing to them for a little while, they all say the same thing over and over and do the same things over and over. Trust me. If you ever watch this movie, you'll know exactly what I mean and you'll find this comparison genius. And it is only for that, I recommend checking out this movie.
On a final side note though, as I was watching it and saw Mr. Hulot pop his head through a roof window I instantly recognized the scene as the avatar for our dearly departed Movie Critic and Pretty Awesome Guy Evan "Svevan" Birchfield. You can see the avatar in question here:
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?action=profile;u=8492. He hasn't changed it since he left 2 years ago. I always thought the avatar looked like Jimmy Stewart. So mystery solved.