When Amelie was released it was a huge success, especially for an art film, garnering critical and audience praise while being nominated for five Academy Awards and still beloved today on DVD. I know I will probably catch hell for saying this but, I kind of hate this movie. It tells the story of a painfully shy young woman who lost her mother young and has a remote father. She has trouble dating, works in a Paris cafe, and spends her days daydreaming. One day she drops the cap to her perfume bottle which rolls and his the tile at the base of the wall jarring it lose. Looking inside, she finds a tin box filled with the treasures of a young boy. She decides to take steps to return this box to its owner and after seeing the joy it brought the now grown man, she decides to try to make others happy, often through manipulation. I found this movie to be cloying in every sense. Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, it contains an excess of whimsy, almost to the point that the film oozes of it. Most would argue that this is to the films credit and serves as charm but I would argue that it hurts a good looking film. Add to the fact that Audrey Tatou is irritating with her obnoxious little mannerisms in the title role and the love angle with Mathieu Kassovitz makes no sense, this is really a mediocre and maybe worse movie whose success is baffling.
