Review: And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen (** 1/2)

AND NOW... LADIES AND GENTLEMEN
A film review by Steve Rhodes

Copyright 2003 Steve Rhodes

RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2


Claude Lelouch's AND NOW... LADIES AND GENTLEMEN is two movies wrapped into
one. In the first, Jeremy Irons brilliantly portrays Valentin Valentin, an
aging jewel thief and con artist extraordinaire, who pulls off some
wonderfully inventive scams against exclusive jewelry stores. These
sequences are punctuated by some dreamy musical numbers featuring Patricia
Kaas as lounge singer Jane Lester. The second, which takes the vast
majority of time, plays like a New Age meditation on life with Valentin and
Jane wandering through Moroccan desserts and hotels in search of lost
memories and of his and her CAT scans to find why they lost them.



Other than the heists and the songs, the only thing memorable about the
movie is an interchange between Valentin and his previous girlfriend, who
had been with him for seven years. She asks him if he had been faithful.
"Often," he replies without batting an eye.



With a pair of scissors, I could easily make a very good movie out of AND
NOW... LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, one that is at least a half hour shorter. Wait
for video when you can hit the fast forward button whenever the movie goes
into neutral.



AND NOW... LADIES AND GENTLEMEN runs a long 2:06. The film is in French
with English subtitles and in English. It is rated PG-13 for "momentary
language" and would be acceptable for any kid old enough to be able to read
subtitles.



The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, August 15, 2003.
In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the Camera Cinemas.



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