dromasca It looks like the European cinema is not exempted from the temptation of commercial remakes. This may be the reason director Cédric Klapisch gets back to his set of characters from the 'L'Auberge Espagnole' and takes them a few years later in another set of romantic comedy adventures set in Paris, London and St. Petersburg. Unfortunately the attempt fails quite badly. I did not like too much 'L'Auberge Espagnole' either, it looked to me like some kind of American college comedy taken into Europe, but at least it had the common background of the rented apartment and a few good although stereotype comic moments. In LPR all these are gone, and we are left with the romantic tribulations of the principal character played by Romain Duris which the males of us certainly can envy for the number of gorgeous women he is bedding, but we really cannot understand why, because he is not either too good looking not too interesting as a character. The director seems to rely exclusively on the charm of his actors and this trick mainly fails or certainly cannot raise too much the interest of this rather boring and not funny comedy. Last word is for Audrey Tautou, why does the fabulous actress who was the fabulous Amelie Poulain let herself be so under-cast in such movies?

Gordon-11 This film is about the love life of Xavier and the reunion of the characters in the Spanish Apartment which is brought about by William's wedding in Russia.I was expecting more of a continuation of the Spanish Apartment, but instead the film goes in another direction to explore Xavier's failed love life. I should have known, as the characters have all moved on in the five years that passed. The film is fun and entertaining, there are so many laugh out loud jokes that can easily become classic in their own right. The international collage is even more explored in this film. Apart from the international characters, the story takes place in three different countries, and the decorations in the various flats are international as well (such as having Chinese posters). From little points like this, we can see that this film is thoughtfully made. It's a lot of fun to watch it with friends, and we all enjoyed it.

roland-104 Cédric Klapisch showed his breadth as a filmmaker when, in 1996, he completed two wonderful films in starkly contrasting genres and styles: "Chacun cherche son chat" ("When the Cat's Away"), an endearing light comedy about the eccentrics inhabiting a Parisian neighborhood, and "Un air de famille" ("Family Resemblances"), an intense, claustrophobic psychodrama about the propagation and feeding of neurosis within a family. He made other films after that, which I have not seen, and then came "L'Auberge espagnole" ("The Spanish Apartment") (2002) and now its sequel, "Russian Dolls," both of which, while wildly popular, I find quite dull, really boring in comparison with the two films he created a decade earlier.Nothing much happens. The old international gang who grew fond of each other as college students in Barcelona (as depicted in "L'Auberge") reunite in St. Petersburg for the marriage of one of their old chums, William (Kevin Bishop), to a Russian girl, Natacha (Evguenya Obraztsova). This event brings to a head the conflict about commitment that has plagued the narcissistic, immature Xavier (Romain Duris) in his on-again-off-again relationship with the statuesque Wendy (Kelly Reilly). At one point Xavier escapes from Wendy's clutches for a brief romp with the dazzling beauty Celia (Lucy Gordon). And so it goes. Will Xavier ever grow up? Will Wendy's short skirts eventually disappear altogether? (Yawn) I suppose these films are well received by younger adults everywhere, in part because they see reflected in the characters their own struggles to achieve and sustain intimacy, in part because the players come from so many places that younger viewers in almost any western nation can find one of their own on the screen here, and also because the ensemble is composed of good looking people. But the maturational issues are addressed ever so much better in Richard Linklater's "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset." Besides Duris, Reilly and Bishop, also reunited for the sequel are Audrey Tautou (as Martine), Cécile De France (Isabelle), Irene Montalà (Neus), Cristina Brondo (Soledad), Federico D'Anna (Alessandro), Barnaby Metschurat (Tobias) and Christian Pagh (Lars). (Zzzzz) My grades: 5.5/10 (C+) (Seen on 01/23/07)

Andres Salama This french film is a sequel of L'Auberge Espagnol, a good film about a bunch of European students sharing a small apartment in Barcelona. There were some problems with that movie, though, that appear upfront in the sequel. Namely, this purports to be a celebration of a new, united Europe, but instead, it celebrates an isolated class, terribly content with itself. It is indeed very strange that in a film about Europe's youth, no third world immigrants appear, none of the characters seems to be unemployed or having employment problems. They seem too content seeing themselves as the people that will rule Europe tomorrow, and if that is true, you must start feeling sorry for that continent, since these people are smug, self-involved, and care very little about the misfortunes of others.