And Now Ladies and Gentlemen

And Now … Ladies and Gentlemen (2002): First, let’s give this French movie some credit; it has an actual beginning and end but retains the traditional painfully long middle. It also has dubbing which prevented me from having to read a lot of mundane dialogue which could have induced eye strain during this chick flicker.

I’ve seen dueling banjos in ‘Deliverance” but this is the first flick I’ve seen with dueling tumors! The somewhat unbelievable story goes something like this: Lady jazz singer in an ebony and ivory duo has a crush on their horn player who tends to dabble more on the dark side. This causes her to leave the troupe and go solo. She starts to lose her memory and on occasion wanders around in a trance and wakes up in strange places. She winds up in Morocco playing at hotel piano bars.

Jeremy Irons plays the English patient and a jewel thief who decides to buy a sail boat (named Ladies and Gentlemen hence the title) and go on a solo world cruise. He is also having bouts of memory loss and passes out on occasion. Well, as luck would have it, he starts his global journey only to pass out and ram Morocco near the very same hotel where our jazz gal is playing. Fortunately, Morocco was only slightly wounded and Irons soon starts wandering around the undamaged parts of the country. Both wind up seeing the same doctor since there’s only one in all of Morocco who can treat them. Now if you had a rare brain tumor, would you stay in Morocco where only one guy can actually treat you? Apparently, this is logical in French movies.

They meet, sort of fall in love, wander around in dazes together and on occasion, forget they met the other. At this point, I thought the movie might have been the basis for Adam Sandler’s “50 First Dates” but this one isn’t funny. Later a robbery occurs and Irons is accused of the theft and he can’t remember if he did it. He eventually confesses so he can get out of jail and get his much needed surgery. The lady jazz singer opts for treatment by chanting with mystics. Since this has a happy ending, both treatments work and the tumoric couple survive. The movie is rated PG-13 for: massive swindling, massive memory loss, massive coincidences, chanting in tongues, and for wounding Morocco with a yacht.