Hunting and Gathering (2007)

Nothing is as French as Audrey Tautou, and romantic comedy-dramas about quirky chatter-boxes. Hunting and Gathering (dir. Claude Berri) is a run-of-the-mill film about young-ish people who are trying to find a path in life. The general tone is that of optimism and a sense that all problems can be solved and all existential tangles can be overcome. In this type of film, any location and any scenario functions as a backdrop for an eccentric adventure. For all its good intentions, the film fails to transform its characters from cute prototypes (the gruff type, the nervous gentleman, the introverted girl with Ideas) into people who haunt our memories. The story has its nice twists and turns, but fails to engage me on a deeper level. (The film's take on gender is also seemingly well-meaning, yet clumsy, but ends up confirming many traditional patterns.)