Richard Roepers review of "With Love From Paris"is at first confusing, then wrong.

Since the blog is new, and last night I just watched "From Paris with Love", I'm using this post as sort of a trial.  The movie came out last Feb, so I went back and watched Roeper talk about it on the Interweb from what looked to be a linen closet with some papers stacked up around him.  He gave the movie a D, which was completely in appropriate, and then went on to describe how entertaining the first half hour of the ninety minute movie was.  He "explained" that John Travolta's performance was a "performance" and "not much of an acting job" which confused me as someone who wants to be entertained, rather than someone who could give a crap about the difference between the two.  

Roeper's attempt at relating to people who like the shoot-em-up, high-body-count movies is transparent and disingenuous early on in his review, and then he has the cheek to slam the movie's effort at some serious tenor in the form of a romantic relationship.  Not much screen time is given to the romance, which I did appreciate, but that is why Roeper is wrong about how serious the movie tries to make itself with it.  Had the same relationship scene been in a chick flick, I'd bet my life Mr. R would have a different, more positive take on it.  But it's in an action thriller and he can't get his head around a semi-serious romance couched within it.  The two coexist just fine.  The relationship must be there at least a little bit because it plays a crucial part in the movie at one point.  And frankly, the director did a good job with it.  It was convincing without going over the top.

All in all, people need to know that this is a movie worth spending money on.  The only thing the popular former TV/current Internet linen closet movie critic got right about this flick is that both the action and the body count are high.  Give credit to the network that let him go.  Mr. Roeper, you just got bit by the Watchdog!