Cinema: Trading places

Russell Crowe has to choose between a chaotic life trading on the London stock exchange and lounging at his uncle's villa in Provence in A Good Year, while in Step Up a troublemaker gets to dance her way into happiness. By Declan Burke

There's a fatal flaw at the heart of A Good Year (12A), Ridley Scott's adaptation of Peter Mayle's bestselling book A Year In Provence: when the central character, Max (Russell Crowe), hesitates when offered the opportunity to spend the rest of his life in the Provencal vineyard chateau he inherited on the death of his beloved Uncle Henry (Albert Finney), preferring instead to return to the pressure-cooker environment of trading on the London stock exchange, there isn't a single person in the audience who won't believe he's clinically insane.

Were the geography reversed, and Max was offered the choice of an idyllic life in Provence without the love of his life, or a stressful existence in London in order to make the relationship work, that at least would require compromise, character development and narrative tension. But Provence, filmed here by Scott in ravishing autumnal shades, has everything going for it: a rustic simplicity, wonderful food, wine by the bucket-load, beautiful weather, and the aforementioned love interest, local beauty Gemma (Archie Panjabi). London, on the other hand, which is filmed in severe blues and appears to be constructed from glass, concrete and gleaming chrome, offers nothing but the ever-diminishing returns of the workaholic's hamster-wheel.

It's true, of course, that A Good Year is intended as nothing more than escapist fantasy. But even dreams tend to generate their own little obstacles, and one or two placed in Max's path might have made this film far more plausible and the inevitable ending that bit more enjoyable. Even the minor parts, including the quirky natives and the tempestuous, gipsy-like Gemma, appear to have been generated as sketches derived from stock stereotypes.

On the plus side, Russell Crowe seems to enjoy himself immensely in playing against type as a kind of sturdier Hugh Grant, self-consciously foppish and given to gnomic little quips. Albert Finney is superb as the eccentric uncle during the regular flashbacks to Max's youth and the setting has a ripe, luscious quality that's likely to send the audience straight from the cinema to the nearest travel agent. The lack of narrative tension means that it's not a good film by any standards, but those who enjoy House Hunters in the Sun should love it.

Step Up (PG) is another escapist fantasy, but it's nowhere near as well-made. Self-taught dancer and troublemaker Tyler (Channing Tatum) gets offered a shot at redemption when ordered to serve as a janitor in a school for the performing arts after being caught red-handed vandalising the place. A four-year-old could probably tell you what will happen next, although even she would very probably be disappointed with the predictability, the abysmal acting and the shoddy choreography that ensues when Tyler joins forces with Nora (Jenna Dewan) after her dancing partner gets injured.

It's the old Cinderella story by way of Dirty Dancing, but this fairytale lacks any kind of magic or sparkle. Not so much Fred 'n' Ginger as Fred 'n' Wilma, and not in a good way.

A Good Year ***

Step Up *