Broken English would be completely dreadful and repetitive if it was not for the ideal casting of Parker Posey as Nora Wilder. The film is a New York based romantic dramedy written and directed by Zoë Cassavetes daughter of actress Gena Rowlands.

Nora Wider (Posey) is a thirty something lonely single woman who smokes and drinks excessively. She hates her job and cannot find the right man. Nora’s best friend Audrey (Drea de Matteo) has been happily married for five years to Mark (Tim Guinee). Nora attends their anniversary party where she is bombarded with questions about her miserable personal life from her mother Vivien (Rowlands).

Vivien takes it upon herself to set Nora up on a date with the son of one of her friends. Of course, the man has issues and ends up leaving Nora half way thru their first date.

Nora, depressed and alone again, runs into Julien (Melvil Poupaud) a visiting Frenchmen. Julien intensely pursues Nora even though she tells him to get lost. Eventually, Nora caves in and the couple spends the weekend together.

When things are finally going her way, Julien drops a bomb saying he must go back to
France. Julien invites Nora to come along with him, but she is fearful of leaving her unhappy life. Time goes by and Nora realizes that Julien is the only one who can make her happy so she jumps on an airplane with her best friend, but will she be able to find him in such a large city as
Paris?

As Nora, Parker Posey reminds me of a cheerleader for a lack luster team. She shined above everyone so much that the remainder of the cast seemed dull. Melvil Poupaud’s strong, silent, intense type works well as a stand alone character, but it was difficult for me to accept him as falling head over heels in love with Nora at first sight. He is too perfect for the imperfect Nora.

Zoë Cassavete’s screenplay is full of clichés. There is nothing different or special. If it wasn’t for Parker Posey’s performance this would just be another run of the mill romantic comedy.

Rated: PG-13

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