Green Card

UK Release: 1st March 1991

Watched on DVD: Sunday 27th May 2012

Rating: 15

Genre: Comedy, Romance, Drama

Runtime: 1hr 43mins

Tagline: The story of two people who got married, met, and then fell in love.

IMDb Plot Synopsis: George Faure is a Frenchman who has been offered a job in the U.S. But in order to get the job he must obtain a work permit - green card, and the easiest way is to marry an American. Bronte Parrish is a New Yorker who is a keen horticulturist and just found the perfect flat with its own greenhouse. Unfortunately the flat is for married couples only. A marriage of convenience seems the ideal solution to both problems. To convince the immigration officers they are married for love, they must move in with each other. As the mismatched couple attempt to cope with life together, they start to fall in love.

My Review: After watching The Proposal a few weeks ago with my mum, she mentioned another film that was very similar - Green Card - and so after loving The Proposal I was of course intrigued to see the ‘original’ (as my mum called it) and promptly bought it off Amazon. I don’t believe this early 90’s film is particuarly well-known - certainly I hadn’t heard of it, but then it was made a couple of years before I was born! So I kind of came at it with fresh eyes and I have to say it was much better than I expected, and how the trailer presents it! 

It actually isn’t really a romance until the last 5 minutes and more a drama staring two characters who are learning to like (and eventually love) watch other and themselves: kind of a self-discovery piece with funny moments thrown in. No, I tell a lie, many funny laugh-out-loud moments as the film has that lovely retro charm that early 90s films have. The starring of a prominent french actor (Gerard Depardieu) who isn’t Hollywood conventionally good-looking also adds an extra independent edge to it and that mash up of European and American humour gives it an emotional and quaint feel that I really warmed to. 

It’s a shame it isn’t more well-known as it deserves a lot more attention (which I think the Oscar nomination is proof of)!

Score: 7.5/10