User reviews

It is rare indeed to experience a film that successfully blends comedy with a strong social message. "The Girl in the Café" is just such a film!

The first half of the firm is primarily quirky romantic comedy as a pencil-pushing, workaholic diplomat has a chance meeting with a young woman, and the couple share a table in a crowded café. The relationship of Lawrence (Bill Nighy) and Gina (Kelly Macdonald) then proceeds in fits and starts...mainly in fits!

There is obviously an attraction between the two characters. But the main problem is the diffidence of Lawrence, whose character redefines the concept of "British reserve." Based upon the shy and reluctant deportment of Lawrence, it is difficult to see how Great Britain was ever able to "people" its great Empire! One of the offbeat lines shared by Lawrence and Gina in a restaurant is: "I scrubbed up for you, tonight." The words "nice," "handsome," "beautiful," or even "You look good, tonight" are not available to characters so maladroit in their social graces.

The second half of the film moves into the area of politics when Lawrence invites Gina to the international G8 Summit meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland. It is there that Gina has some surprises for Lawrence and for the politicians at the conference. As brilliantly played by Kelly Macdonald, Gina delivers passionate and impromptu pleas to address the problems of world hunger, poverty, and AIDS. Gina's speeches are some of the most memorable moments in the film.

While the romantic relationship between Lawrence and Gina continues to unfold, it is the social and political side of the story that dominates the final portion of the film. Here, there is no shilly-shallying around on the part of Gina, as she boldly plants the seeds for social action. Ultimately, a question that emerges is whether or not an unassuming individual like Gina can single-handedly make a difference in her world, and the answer delivered by this gem of a film is a resounding "Yes."

Lawrence, an aide to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, appears to be a confirmed bachelor. This is a man that lives for his job that evidently keeps him away from the realities of life. Lawrence gets more than what he bargains for when he enters the cafe, at the beginning of the film, and asks Gina, who is minding her business, whether he can share her table to drink his tea.

Thus begins this romantic comedy with political overtones directed with great flair by David Yates and based on a screen play by Richard Curtis, a writer who knows a thing, or two, about human relations, as demonstrated by his previous work.

Lawrence and Gina, for all appearances are a mismatched pair. He comes from a different world, but has no social graces. She, on the other hand, seems to know a lot more about life than he does. It's easy to see why Lawrence falls head over heels in love with this shy and decent girl who surprises him, and the diplomatic team attending the G8 conference in Reykjavik, Iceland. Lawrence, on an impulse, decides to invite her to come along.

The only thing that Mr. Yates and Mr. Curtis haven't prepared us is for the way Gina, a shy and quiet woman, will raise to the occasion to tell her views to people that couldn't care less, much less would have asked her for her opinion of what's being negotiated in the summit.

Bill Nighy gives a splendid performance as the repressed and reserved Lawrence, a man who can't see beyond of the international diplomacy that consumes his life. Kelly MacDonald makes a wonderful and sweet Gina, a poor girl who has a lot to give. Both actors are wonderful playing together. They made us believe in their love and we are happy they found one another.

Highly recommended for viewers that appreciate a subtle comedy with its heart in the right place.

This movie premiered on dutch television tonight (I think it also premiered on the BBC and HBO, nicely in time for the next G8 meeting). Without giving anything away with regard to the plot, this is a very nice movie that combines a personal love story with ideals and politics. Bill Nighy is absolutely fabulous in the lead, and it is his performance that carries this film, although it has to be said that Kelly Macdonald also more than holds her own.

Even though the material is pretty contemporary, and one'd be tempted to think it might not age well because of that, I think the story is universal enough to stand up to the test of time. Recommended for anyone that likes their movies slow, touching and real.

Written to coincide with the Africa Lives series on the BBC and also the current Make Poverty History campaign, 'The Girl in the Cafe' is a superlative TV drama that makes its political points without resorting to grandstanding or heavy-handedness.

Played to absolute perfection by Bill Nighy and especially Kelly MacDonald, and written by Richard Curtis with his usual wry wit, this drama places a socially aware Everywoman in the same room as the world's most powerful politicians at a fictional G8 Summit in Reykjavik.

The blossoming romance of the two leads and the politics of the summit develop in perfect tandem, neither allowed to undermine the other. It is to Curtis's credit that he does not seek to provide an easy way out for any of the characters, nor does he wrap everything up in a neat bow at the climax.

This is one of the most accomplished TV dramas I have ever seen, and I can only hope that it achieves the profile elsewhere that its creative team and, more importantly, its message deserves.

Bill Nihby's Lawrence is such a painfully reserved character to observe that one wonders how he can possibly be effective as a policy wonk. Still, the fusion of this shy man and the girl in the cafe who has all the time in the world and a charming b.s. meter to boot is a wonder to behold. This film is clearly a piece of propaganda wrapped in a love story. The message is delivered in inescapable measure. Ultimately, the film punches out its challenge to the movers and shakers of the G8 to 'be great.' One could only wish that the real movers and shakers could accept the simple message they are being challenged with. This is such a lovely little film with plenty of gusto.

I'm disappointed that I have to give this movie such a low rating, because parts of it were amazing, and very well done.

However, I felt that this *wasn't* a romantic comedy, rather that it was a heavy-handed piece of emotional propaganda.

Sure, it's a worthy cause, but that doesn't excuse it. The least they could have done was to insert the messages subliminally! The dialogue throughout this film was beautiful, the interaction between the leads was a delight.

However, when it came to the 'taking a stand' dialogue, I found it incredibly cringe-worthy, and even had to turn off the television.

I think this was such a brilliant idea, but it was overwrought, and I'd have loved this if they'd either toned down the political message, or perhaps made is less crude.

This movie is all about plot and character development. The two principal characters have a lot of depth. We learn more personal information about them and what motivates them as the story unfolds. The main male character was profoundly lonely and the enigmatic young woman was quite fascinating. The plot has a very compelling message about severe poverty and the toll it takes on some of the world's population.

This film resonated with me. I am still naive enough, at 45 years of age, to think that people or a person can make a difference. In spite of the daily realities we all face, I think it is important for people to at least feel that what they do matters. This movie sold that message in a way that had no hint of being superficial or patronizing.

The only criticism of the movie is the pace. It is a slow pace, but I found the plot interesting enough that it didn't detract. I am interested in global politics, and I found that part of the movie interesting in spite of the pace. My wife was bored with the pace and doesn't share my enthusiasm for the movie.

If you are interested in global politics and like movies with a strong character focus, this is a good one. If you need an energetic pace to your film, this movie suffers a bit.

Two films in one Jekyll and Hyde package. A marvellous performance by Bill Nighy well supported, or rather, accompanied by Kelly Macdonald. The rest of the cast seemed just right with their supporting 'pattern' characters.

The dialogue of the romance must have seemed odd to read but is made utterly believable by the main players. Great writing.

The bad part is the moral message. Clumsy, lumpen, mawkish. If it were possible to put on film the sentiment behind the 'humanity' interest as well as was done with the love interest then it would have really been something. It was a sledgehammer trying to move a continent - with about as much of a lasting effect on those who were actually taken in by it in the first place.

Switching from a beautiful and believable story of two lonely people to Sesame Street mentality scenes at a G8 conference doesn't spoil it completely, it's well worth seeing. You just know when to zone out to avoid the PC bits second time round.

Marvellous but flawed and not marvellously flawed, which is a pity.

Well worth several viewings.

WOW! I just watched an absolutely brilliant film on HBO tonight. "The Girl in the Cafe" stars Bill Nighy and Kelly Macdonald in what I am sure will be one of the very best films of the year.

The film will, with 100% certainty, appeal to those who loved "Lost in Translation" and it will probably resonate with many of those who didn't like the characters in that film as much as the rest of us.

The two characters in this film are adorable, seemingly mismatched and yet a perfect relationship forms. Nighy & Macdonald deliver Oscar worthy performances... it is shame that this TV movie won't qualify!!! The film is also rife with political intelligence at it is set against the backdrop of a summit being held in Reykjavik, Iceland.

This is a spectacular screenplay, delicately balanced and bittersweet, insightful and poignant.

THE GIRL IN THE CAFE is superb in every way.

Look for it on HBO right now!!! I believe it plays twice on the 28th and will assuredly be repeated many times this month!!!

Eight men in a room can make the difference, but a single life can make it happen. The Girl in the Café is about a restrained and serene interaction between an elderly man and a young woman. Lawrence (Bill Nighy), a hard working civil servant, meets Gina (Kelly MacDonald) in a café where he felt in love of her. Lawrence dares after a few short dates, to ask her on a trip to Reykjavik on a Q8-meeting. In Iceland, with beautiful screen shots of a cold and a white vast landscape, the mystery of Gina will be slowly unfolded what leads to great impact on Lawrences life. This movie contains political moral, without to many words. But above all this movie shows that someone must have confidence to pursue his ideals. I gave this movie an 7/10

A beautiful and moving film. I didn't know what it was about as the trailer didn't reveal much other than the relationship between Nighy and McDonald so I was thinking it was just a gentle love story, a British 'Lost in Translation'.

But what transpired was so much more than that. I thought the way the enormous issue of global poverty and the few people who hold the political power to affect change was dealt with intelligently and sensitively and interwoven poignantly with the strange romance developing between the two leads.

I'm not too familiar with the background of the film but I would hazard a guess that the seeds of the project were sown when Richard Curtis wrote 'Love Actually' which included a subplot where the British PM (Hugh Grant) publicly opposed policies brought forward by the American president (Billy Bob Thornton).

Since 'Love Actually' was a light-hearted romantic comedy, the politics were never elaborated on but I'm sure that 'The Girl in the Cafe' was the opportunity for Curtis to put this topical issue into terms that anyone could understand and empathise with. The timing, of course, is impeccable, with the G8 summit to be held in Scotland within 2 weeks and widespread attention of the summit brought to the masses by Sir Bob Geldof and the simultaneous Live 8 series of concerts.

It goes without saying that the performances of the two leads are spot-on, Bill Nighy is the king of understated pathos as Lawrence and Kelly McDonald is gracious as the mysterious but steely Gina.

The film is shot in (literally) cool locations and makes a fantastic ad for the chilled aloofness that is Reykjavik.

But at the heart of this love story are the nameless, faceless millions who suffer daily and the ease with which this fact is taken as statistic. Africa has never before been on the forefront of social issues as it is today and to anyone who might be under the impression that poverty is an issue for politicians to sort out around the conference table, 'The Girl in the Cafe' is a potent reminder that the power to affect change is more immediate than we might think. Superb.

Make Poverty History

Despite my initial apprehension about the ever-present quality of Bill Nighy's monotone acting style, this TV drama was something a little bit special. Many things have also been written about the decline of the British Rom-Com into meaningless commercialisation and it would seem that Richard Curtis is the main exponent of this love-or-hate genre. Despite this, and regardless of individual taste, this semi-comic drama really blew me away. Curtis returns to arguably his strongest field, in Comic Relief-related, charity-based entertainment. This drama didn't so much force a sense of guilt upon the viewer (like many charity marketing programmes) as create a real sense of hope and a determination to get things right this time around.

Parallels can be immediately seen between The Girl in the Cafe and Sophia Coppola's Lost in Translation. For example, the beauty of the location of Reykjavic recalls the strange beauty of Japan in Coppola's film. Most importantly, both films are intensely moving dramas about people finding themselves after periods lost in a haze of pointlessness. And this is perhaps where the poverty message intermeshes with the main masterplot. Amidst all the years of relative inaction, the daring move to make the world at least a slightly better place relates on an extremely personal level.

For the filmic and narrative qualities of The Girl in the Cafe alone, the film is good, if a little derivative. But more important is the message it conveys. Please: let's make poverty history.

This was a delightful movie. The cinematography was excellent as was the acting by Bill Nighy. It is a tender story with a message. Enjoyed the scenery as well as the characterizations. We stumbled on it on HBO and hope that it will receive a wider audience than just television. It is very timely. I enjoy Bill Nighy; have seen him in other movies but especially remember him in Love, Actually. Gina was also delightful and her last line "does it matter?" was very powerful. All of the G8 group who appeared to be interested in doing good were conflicted especially the Americans. Real problems are mentioned here and that is always a positive.

This is an extremely well crafted film by David Yates.

It is very rare that I get all passionate about a film. But this is one such film that virtually demands that!!

Yes, like the previous critic said, it is quirky and it can be looked upon as a comedy.. but the best thing about it is if you look at this film as a separate entity. It is about two characters, the civil-servant and the nobody girl (.. in the café...), who meet by chance. Both from such completely different worlds! One speaks with that the propah British accent and she speaks with the crude Scottish brogue. However, its that Scottish brogue that enraptures you from the start! I mean, Kelly MacDonald put in such a fine performance of her character, I admit, I was taken aback, i wanted to personally hand her the golden man!! The beauty of this film is the subtlety with which director David Yates weaves together the sweetness of romance with the ugliness of world poverty, and the rich world politics etc.. It is an absolute treat of a film. I am surprised this wasn't released in the theaters. Isn't that some kinda of irony in itself!! You must watch this film!!! YOU MUST!!

We all know, deep in our selves what we can do that we are not. And we suspect what that could mean, so there is always a place that a movie like this can touch.

If you haven't yet seen it, its a romance in the traditional movie sense, or at least it promises to be. And once it has you in that groove, with two damaged souls together in a foreign country, it switches to a different sort of fantasy: saving Africa. But as we've been inserted into the thing by one of the most powerful target stories ever discovered — the romance — we flow into it with different eyes.

Its a matter of committing. Just where in an ordinary date movie where the couple commits to each other over swelling music, here we have the 8 finance ministers (the G7 plus Russia) committing to do what we know can be done. Or do they? The movie ends with strong ambiguity, with the worst option being that someone who could, stood up.

See the engineering, the co-opting of one form for another purpose? See how deftly we are guided to where we want to be, to want to do something? See how wonderfully sticky these target stories are?

I should warn you that if you see this, you will either come away a bit more likely to actually do something. Or you will not, in which case you will plant a seed of self-loathing that may be too much to bear.

The actors here have very apt instincts, instincts that both work and are okay for TeeVee for which this was made. The stage is so small because the small screen cannot envelop two souls. So you have to do this back and forth business where the relationship has to be carried in faces and timing. I assume dialogs were shot with two cameras simultaneously.

There are three actors involved here: the two we normally see: the reluctant lovers stumbling into a future together, and a third, the politician who gets seduced into the story. In order for the transference bit to work, the two need to seduce each other according to movielaws close enough to what we know we buy it. Then they as a unit, a joined soul need to seduce the politician. Imagine the challenge for the actors.

It works.

The writing on this is so clean, so delicately balanced, and yet so forcefully energetic that I must go and watch Blackadder. I see the writer here did those, many of them.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

The movie begins well, with Nighy playing a painfully shy government official and Macdonald playing the more forward, but perhaps somewhat socially awkward free-spirit object of his affections. The scenes between the two of them were nice.

As the film progresses, however, the nice tension developed between the two becomes less and less the focus and instead the movie concentrates on a social message that has such a simplistic view of the world that I can't help thinking that it's the naive product of lazy thinking.

I'm perfectly willing to give a positive review to a movie that has a social message, even a movie with a lightweight, ineffective message like this one. But the problem is that the film doesn't really present this message well, and even the nice relationship that is set up in the first half between the two principles descends into a series of unrealistic scenes.

Overall I'm giving this a 6/10, because the first half or so is very strong before it goes into a place which is uninteresting. Also, Nighy and Macdonald do a credible job with what they have, which is very nice at first.

Wow - I just hope some important people see this. If sometimes a little slow and ponderous this is still a great piece of filming. Of course it has the advantage of Bill Nighy (you all must see more of his work to appreciate him - especially in comic roles) and his co-star, who I will be looking up on IMDb to see more about her and where I have seen her before.

I do hope that, at the next G8 in July 2005, there is someone attending who has seen this movie - to be able to make its premise come true. But maybe I am just living a fantasy. Even if only half the statistics were half true about world poverty and suffering you would hope that somebody with influence (or great wealth - Bill Gates - have you seen this movie?) would watch and do something about it.

What a great little love (?) story too. An excellent movie - but hard to watch if you have a conscience, are not a cynic and have seen Bill Nighy in other, more entertaining, fare.

The script was written as a BBC TV film to be broadcast the month before the G8 Summit at Gleneagles in July 2005, and was meant to highlight the plight of millions in the third world who die in their thousands because of lack of food, vacillation by western countries and politicians. It was not Marxist... as one American reviewer has said, but a sober reflection on man's inhumanity to man.... especially when money and trade barriers are in place.

As the tag line intimates... it's a small beginning, but it is a start... and in the UK at present there is a big advertising campaign regarding one child dying from starvation in Africa ever three seconds! Rich countries should take note.

"The Girl In The Café" is a fairy tale of two very shy people falling in love with each other. One of them happens to work for the Chancellor of the Exchequer, preparing for a G-8 summit, which gives the movie a slight political stance. As lovely as Kelly MacDonald and the ever so admirable Bill Nighy were playing their parts, I couldn't really connect to the their characters, Lawrence and Gina. Lawrence's shyness comes very close to absolute dullness, whereas Gina behaves rather selfishly when she argues with Lawrence's boss all the time without thinking of the consequences. The political aspect makes this movie seem unbalanced. It starts out as a romance (and a very slow moving one at that) and all of a sudden it becomes this plea for stopping poverty in the third world. Of course, it's hard to take this plea too seriously when the whole problem is simplified by Gina so much. Sure, the movie makes clear that that's the key to the problem: getting down to the essence of things and not over-complicating everything when it really just takes the will to make a change for this world to become a better place. As much as I would like to believe in this moral, I can't. Its intentions are good, but "The Girl In The Café" is merely a half-baked fairy tale borrowing heavily from "Lost In Translation" in that its main characters are two alienated people in a foreign country falling in love with each other (or not). It's a nice little movie, but from IMDb's rating I was expecting more.

David Yates already impressed me with Sex Traffic and the short motion picture Rank.

It is really hard to point out what makes his movies so interesting. The characters are always nicely worked out but we never get to know them fully, some sort of mystery remains. Locations and scenery are well picked and beautifully shot. Form and story are always in great balance.

In 'The Girl in the Café' Yates has once again a superb cast. As a result we get some stunning acting by Bill Nighy and Kelly Macdonald (see also her small but nice role in Trainspotting as Diane, or the way she saves Strictly Sinatra from being a movie not worth seeing) I won't be thrilled by David Yates' next work, a Harry Potter sequel, since i would rather see him work on another motion picture for television. But hey, at least it's not weird to see Yates get the opportunity to work on a 'blockbuster', though i hope his real blockbuster is yet to come.

Bill Nighy's performance as Lawrence, a shy, middle aged, British professional is reason enough to see this movie.

Nighy is flamboyantly unobtrusive, deafeningly silent. Fascinating in all the ways he can be self effacing.

In a café, Lawrence meets Gina, and, for reasons the film never bothers to explore, he abandons what appears to have been a lifetime of being frozen in social anxiety disorder and embarks on a romance with this mousy, morose girl, young enough to be his daughter.

Gina travels with Lawrence to the G-8 Summit, where she, like Lawrence, and, again, for no clear reason, abandons her mousiness and gives world leaders a good talking to, trying to get them to save the world.

The romance is only so-so. It's ironic that a movie that wants to be so high minded plays the oldest game in the world -- featuring a man in his late fifties, and looking that age, if not older, with a child/woman, with no life of her own, young enough to be his daughter, or, even, by the looks of it, his granddaughter.

this part of the movie is just gross. But Molly Haskell and others have gone on and on about the cheap trick of geezer-babe pairings; I'll stop here.

The politics of this movie appear Saccharine sweet, but in fact they are cynical of the worst kind. If we could save the world by shipping bucket loads of money to the Third World, the world would be saved by now.

What happens when you ship bucket loads of money to the Third World, though, is that corrupt leaders grow fatter, war lords buy more advanced weaponry with which to slaughter opposing tribes, and matériel is shipped in that no one in the village knows how to use, so a year later you find taps with no water coming out, and electric light sockets that can't illuminate a room.

And, yes, I have lived and worked in the Third World, and I am here to tell you that the politics of this movie are the worst kind of self-aggrandizing garbage.

But, hey. Nighy's performance is worth it.