Everyone is a dick in 2 Days in Paris

When an overweight American, dressed in full tourist regalia and elated to find a fellow Yank, questions Jack (sulky Adam Goldberg) if he knows where the Louve is, Jack sends the cheery tourist marching a mere two blocks away. But when Jack’s French girlfriend Marion (Julie Delpy) returns from looking for a taxi, she scolds her beau—the Louve is miles away! Jack’s a dick. He’s also a nagging, paranoid hypochondriac. Girlfriend Marion is a dick, too. She lies about past boyfriends and aggressively initiates verbal brawls with everyone from the cabbie to her ex. An even bigger dick, though, is Marion’s dad, Jeannot (played by Deply’s real life pop Albert Delpy) who openly harasses Jack in French—which Jack can’t understand a word of, naturally.

2 Days in Paris is not unlike writer/director/star Delpy’s past starring role in Before Sunset, where she was also paired with an American in Europe. What’s different this go-round is that we view the reality of the ups and downs of a long term, cross-cultural romance. After a trip to Venice where too-small Italian condoms and explosive diarrhea get in the way of the possibility of lovemaking, the duo set out to meet Marion’s parents in Paris. What follows does not only include Marion’s overbearing parents but also run-ins with an array of her flirty exes. It’s charming.

You’ll hate the voiceovers in both the beginning and the end the film, but Delpy succeeds in the end with zippy pacing and many laughs. And dicks.

2 DAYS IN PARIS DIR. JULIE DELPY | RATED R | AT SELECT THEATERS IN LA AND OC