"The Girl in the Cafe"

Movies are like food-sometimes you're in the mood for junk, sometimes you need something more substantial. When you are looking for a small little something that will touch you may I recommend "The Girl in the Cafe". It's an HBO movie (or at least that's where it was shown in this country) starring Bill Nighy who is perhaps best known as the crazy bad singer in "Love, Actually". Nighy plays a British civil servant, a classic lonely guy, who meets a young woman in a cafe (natch) one day and they end up sharing a table because there is no where else for him to sit. They get to talking, awkwardly and quite realistically (for a movie at least, it's definately not meeting cute) and he eventually ends up asking her for a date. They have dinner which is also quite awkward but also quite sweet-for the viewer it's a total pleasure to see these 2 lonely people trying to connect. Eventually he asks her to accompany him to Iceland where he is a member of the British team attending the G8 summit there. She accepts and though the trip starts promisingly it hits a snag when she expresses her honest opinions about the politics involved to his superior. Not surprisingingly his superior doesn't appreciate it and tells him to keep her in check.

And then the really good writing comes into play. (kudos to Richard Curtis!)

Both of our characters have been set up so well, so well that we viewers didn't even realize it, that what happens next is both completely believable and wholly inevitable which is of course how a good story should be. I won't ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen it by saying more I'll just repeat my recommendation. If you're looking for a great little movie check out "The Girl in the Cafe".