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Broken English (2007)

tomatometer

64

Average Rating: 6.3/10
Reviews Counted: 73
Fresh: 47 | Rotten: 26

Though Broken English eventually settles into basic rom-com territory, it's pleasant and good-natured, and Parker Posey is spellbinding throughout the movie.

67

Average Rating: 6.4/10
Critic Reviews: 27
Fresh: 18 | Rotten: 9

Though Broken English eventually settles into basic rom-com territory, it's pleasant and good-natured, and Parker Posey is spellbinding throughout the movie.

audience

60

liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 23,567

My Rating

Movie Info

A single thirtysomething whose friends all seem to be romantically involved, happily married, or with child meets an eccentric Frenchman who shows her just what an amazing place the world can truly be in director Zoe Cassavetes' entry into the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. As if it wasn't depressing enough to be 35 and still single, Nora (Parker Posey) is constantly reminded by her loving but tactless mother (Gena Rowlands) just how unlucky she has been in love. Though Nora longs to enter into a

PG-13,

Drama, Art House & International, Comedy

Zoe Cassavetes

Aug 21, 2007

$0.8M

Magnolia Pictures - Official Site External Icon

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Cast

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All Critics (77) | Top Critics (29) | Fresh (47) | Rotten (26) | DVD (5)

How Posey's neurotic, self-destructive heroine finds her way to healing is the core of this generous film, whose moral is that happiness can't begin unless you're open to its possibility.

January 3, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A likable but wan romance.

August 9, 2007 Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel
Orlando Sentinel
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Filmmaking is a family affair for the Cassavetes, and Zoe inherits the unpretentious, performance-driven style from her father, John, while delivering a love story that's accessible enough for mainstream audiences, a trick learned from her brother Nick.

July 27, 2007
Miami Herald
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Cassavetes supplies no easy answers or easy laughs, forgoing romantic-comedy beats in respect for Nora's desperation. Call this confection a romantic-dramedy with humor on wry.

July 20, 2007 Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle
Houston Chronicle
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Broken English establishes a sympathetic character, gets Parker Posey to make her real, and then grinds her in the gears of a plot we cannot believe.

July 20, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A promising first film with moments exceeding that promise.

July 19, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Broken English surprised me all around: I didn't expect to be particularly impressed with it, and instead it turns out to be not only one of my favorite films I've see this year, but it will probably earn a spot in the all-time annals for me.

August 22, 2008 Full Review Source: ReelzChannel.com

Posey's admirers will experience a sensual intoxication that fans always experience when their film goddesses are at their very best.

November 22, 2007 Full Review Source: New York Theatre Wire

This isn't the best independent film we've seen starring Miss Posey, but she is the reason this one works.

November 21, 2007 Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com

a tired retread of Sex and the City, with all the same preoccupations and issues but with none of the fun

November 15, 2007 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com
Filmcritic.com

Edgy girl-meets-boy indie for older teens and up.

October 22, 2007 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media

When Nora decides to take yet another risk against her better judgment, the film leaves to you to judge it as quixotic, vexing, or fitting.

August 16, 2007 Full Review Source: PopMatters
PopMatters

You might be a little surprised or at least amused when the caustic, tired, joyous, frantic roller coaster stops.

August 10, 2007

Ultimately, the only wisdom you leave with is the implausibly wise pocket philosophy gleaned from romantic strangers on the streets of an idealized France.

August 9, 2007 Full Review Source: Orlando Weekly
Orlando Weekly

...neither the story nor the well-acted characters quite engage our interest or sympathy.

August 8, 2007 Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review
Sacramento News & Review

...eventually jumps the shark by failing to consider a major character's professional competence

August 3, 2007 Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Parker Posey is game in 'Broken English,' although the limited conception of her giggly insecure Nora Wilder is too thin for ninety-six minutes.

August 2, 2007 Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews
ReelTalk Movie Reviews

Posey gives a committed performance, and Justin Theroux is good as an overindulged movie star. But almost nothing that's said or done here is convincing. And the energy is set at near-coma level.

July 27, 2007 Full Review Source: Oregonian
Oregonian

Zoe Cassavetes' new film Broken English is a delight, and as a debut film shows that we can expect good things from her.

July 22, 2007 Full Review Source: Movie Magazine International
Movie Magazine International

It's pretty clear where this is going from the first frame, though Posey's performance does keep you interested.

July 20, 2007 Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

[Cassavetes] treats cliches as fodder for comedy and nuances as the mainstays of a deeper, more beguiling sexual humor. What's engaging about this movie is that all the conventional trysts become low-key nightmare farce.

July 20, 2007 Full Review Source: Baltimore Sun
Baltimore Sun

Audience Reviews for Broken English

A desperately lonely (not my words; hers: "I'm embarrassed at my own desperation") woman fails to find love in NYC so she follows a man to Paris.
This is a spoiler review because the biggest problems with this film are in the third act.
Parker Posey plays Nora Wilder, who is much like the lead in most romantic comedies or romantic dramas. She hates her job and finds nothing but jerks and weirdos in the dating world. She even has the best friend who doesn't seem to have a life of her own, which is almost a cliche in this genre. But the film's strength is its strategic defying of romance cliches. In the third act the best friend, whose troubled marriage until now only served as a backdrop for her scenes with Nora, breaks down in the bathroom, and we quickly realize that she cheated on her husband. Likewise, Nora quits her job, and normally, she would quickly find her calling a la 500 Days of Summer, but instead her desperate search for love irrationally carries her to Paris.
The film's problem occurs when she finally meets the object of her affection on the way to the airport. He basically drags her out of the train, and the film ends with her willingness to miss the flight back home for him.
I understand that the film is trying to problematize all the myths romantic movies shove down our throats; after all, not all break ups lead to a sudden realization of one's independence and life goals. The film seems to say that there are no easy answers where love is concerned. However, the over-bearing nature of Julien's seizure of Nora and her all-too-willing, wistful acceptance of his dominance make us wonder how we're supposed to feel about the film's end. I want to say to the film, "I know there are no easy answers, but what are yours? And if not yours, then what are Nora's?" In the end, these questions seem too elemental to the film's center to remain unanswered.
Overall, Broken English features an excellent performance by Parker Posey, but it's stuck in a film that is being deliberately obscure in all the wrong ways.
May 29, 2011
hunterjt13
Jim Hunter

Super Reviewer

I hesitate to call this a "romantic comedy" as the acting is far too solid to justify the stigma that (in my mind) comes with that moniker, even though the story line itself is predictable enough to warrant that categorization.

It is in fact very romantic, in a pretty realistic way. And it is also fairly ammusing in it's painfully truthful accurate portrayal of "single life after 30". Which (I believe) tends to be more of a concern for women then it is for men.

I have to say Parker Possey does an amazing job here and really gets to show her acting chops. And Drea de Matteo is perfect as her best friend. Very impressive work from both of them.

So if you are in the mood for a really good (in not a bit predictable) "romantic comedy"...this is a good choice.
May 7, 2008
RCCLBC
Robert C

Super Reviewer

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