When florist Quinn mentions his plans to propose to his long-term girlfriend Devon, his gorgeous co-worker Kelsey chooses the inopportune moment to declare she’s in love with him. The revelation causes him to botch the proposal to such an extent that he and Devon break up. When he realises that the possibility of sleeping with any woman doesn’t actually interest him and that the woman he wants was the one we was already with, he travels to Paris in an attempt to win her back.
Best known from The Big Bang Theory as the now considerably less sleazy Howard Wolowitz, Simon Helberg’s first foray behind the camera is based in the romantic history of him and his wife (and co-director) Jocelyn Towne. Or in the words the film puts it: “Based on a true story. Unfortunately. The film inevitably draws Woody Allen comparisons from its chic urban settings to its neurotic Jewish protagonist with tangled romantic encounters, but in truth the similarities are merely superficial and lack Allen’s egotism.
Quinn’s tragedy is his inability to realise just how completely selfish he is. He remains blithely oblivious to the hypocrisy of having a problem with the possibility of Devon meeting someone else, when he himself has screwed two different women in the space of a week. As Devon eventually points out to him, “Your definition of self-deprecation is everyone else’s definition of narcissism. In spite of this, you are still able sympathise with him as his self-absorption stems from mere cluelessness rather than malice.
The film’s only real issue is much of the supporting cast getting a little short shrift. Maggie Grace and her “freakishly long legs serve to provide an idealised version of femininity that men are supposed to fantasise about but lose interest in when faced with the reality. The ever-wonderful Zachary Quinto makes a couple of all-too-brief appearances as Quinn’s manchild best friend and the kind of person he risks becoming if he doesn’t get his life in order, while Alfred Molina as Quinn’s father is likewise underused.
The journey to Quinn and Devon’s reuniting is a bumpy and slightly surreal one; while the behaviour of some characters may seem somewhat improbable and feel like a 1930s screwball comedy filtered through a modern veneer of cynicism, it still remains just plausible enough to prevent it from becoming farcical. When it comes down to it, when you realise who it is you’re supposed to be with, no amount of mistakes (from yourself or anyone else) can dissuade you from the fact.
Overall Verdict: A decent directorial debut from which Helberg and Towne can build from, We’ll Never Have Paris comes off as a little unlikely, but nevertheless remains charming and engaging throughout.
Reviewer: Andrew Marshall