Current release: IN SEARCH OF A MIDNIGHT KISS

This little indie was a big hit at last year's Edinburgh festival but the ability to miss all the favourites at every festival I go to is ingrained in my DNA, so I had to wait for the cinema release.

The end of the year. Two young people both recovering from heartbreak and/or failure meet over the internet and agree to a date. The deal is simple - they meet up on Hogmanay in LA, and have until midnight to see if they can make it work.

I applaud this low-budget romantic comedy-drama for avoiding the easy route (well, most of the time) in playing out its will-they-won't-they romance and relying predominantly on characters rather than daft situations (although there are a few nice touches there too). It's a little like Richard Linklater's BEFORE SUNSET and BEFORE SUNRISE but with the occasional CLERKS-style humour thrown in (without overdoing it).

What really stayed with me however, was the loving portrait of LA. While I stand by the above movie comparisons, I think that intentionally or otherwise, this film struck me as a kind of updated take on Manhattan - not just the romance angle but the fact that the city becomes a central character in the movie. I've seen plenty of films set in LA, but this is the first one I've seen that has really been an LA movie. I've never been there so I've no idea what kind of a portrait it paints in terms of accuracy, but it certainly felt genuine to me.

Touching, funny and unlikely to stay in cinemas very long during the summer I imagine. Another one worth seeing.

Current release: PRICELESS

Or, HORS DE PRIX if you want the original title of this French romcom.

Okay, let me get this out of the way first: BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S. I had to do that, as apparently it's impossible to write a review of this movie without mentioning it. Seriously, go and look at all the reviews in the papers and film mags. They can't do it, I'm telling you.

Anyway...

A high-class call-girl (Audrey Tautou) spends her time scheming her way into the hearts of rich old men to take them for all their worth; along comes the hotel worker (Gad Elmaleh) who fools her into embarking on an affair with him. She finds out, they break up, then lots of young people and old rich people spend the rest of the film double-crossing each other.

It's lightweight, innocent fun which keeps the twists and hilariously awkward moments coming; the leads make for a watchable couple (very watchable in the case of Tautou, who spends the entire film looking stunning); and, despite showing a degree of cynicism absent from today's Hollywood romcoms (I say that as if I actually know anything about them), it's still reminiscent of some of the classics, in particular films like... no, wait, I already covered that part.

Being quite a big French release, it might even pop up at one of your local multiplexes. If that's the case, give it a go. You'll probably enjoy it more than THE INCREDIBLE HULK. By which I mean that you'll enjoy this more than that film, not that you'll enjoy it more than the Hulk would enjoy it. I suspect that's true as well though. The Hulk would probably just smash the cinema up. To be fair to him though, I wouldn't blame him, as my heartrate wasn't that dissimilar to Mr Banner's when Audrey Tautou showed up. Have I even spelled her name right there? I've no idea. I can't pronounce it properly either. Not that this matters for a blog. Well, unless I start doing an audio version. Which I won't. Sorry, I've completely forgotten what I was talking about. It had something to do with a beautiful woman and a big green monster, I think.

Whatever. PRICELESS is quite good, is what I think I was trying to say.