The Girl in the Café is an interesting idea for a movie. It’s a blend of romantic comedy with a political agenda. The film doesn’t really work, but it’s nice to see something different. The romantic pair is played by Bill Nighy and Kelly MacDonald. Both are fine actors, and they have an awkward, engaging chemistry. Nighy plays a lonely civil servant and MacDonald plays a damn sexy woman. They “meet cute” in, you guessed it, a café, and they end up going to the G8 summit in Iceland (go figure). The scri…t is written by Richard Curtis (of Love Actually). Curtis seems to have a flair for the unconventional in his scripts. He doesn’t quite pull off the last act, but (for most of the ride) The Girl in the Café is worth a look.
Audio
The Dolby Digital 2.0 is fairly clean. This is a dialogue heavy track, with not a lot of rear activity. It’s not the most exciting audio track, but it’s probably not going to sound any better.
Video
The 1.85:1 widescreen transfer is also clean. Not too many digital artifacts here. The transfer comes thought nicely, much like a crisp Icelandic day.
Special Features
Some thought went into this made for television release. The behind the scenes featurette is standard fare, but always interesting. Deleted scenes are self-explanatory. The feature commentary by director David Yates and writer Richard Curtis is an informative one. Both talkers have an engaging style, and they make some prescient points.
Final Thoughts
The Girl in the Café is an experiment in genre: a romantic comedy with a message. As I mentioned before, the movie doesn’t quite “work”. But I admire the attempt. At just over 90 minutes, The Girl in the Café won’t be a waste of time. It’s a smart film with two excellent leads. The transfer, audio, and special features are nothing to sneeze at either. Heck, now I want to go to Iceland.
Special Features List
- Behind the Scenes Featurette
- Deleted Scenes
- Audio Commentary
