Green Card
Star Andie MacDowell was totally surprised when Peter Weir asked her to gain weight. She had always been asked to do the opposite.,Georges repeatedly tells immigration officers about his Africa trips. The script overlooks that fact that INS would have or request a copy of his passport to process his case. In real life, INS would have realized immediately that the Africa story was not real: no entry/departure stamps in his passport.,Brontë Mitchell Faure: We don't have to like each other. We just have to get married.,Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Green Card/Almost an Angel/Hamlet/Come See the Paradise/Alice (1990),Holdin' On
Written by Beresford Romeo and Simon Law
Performed by Soul II Soul
Courtesy of Virgin Records Ltd.,Usually, romantic comedies are all the same, concerning their tone and their dialogue. Green Card` by the great director Peter Weir (Truman Show`, Witness`!), is a little different, which alone makes it sympathetic.

The film evokes interest right at the beginning because if people don't know exactly what it is all about, they might not get immediately what's happening. Brontë is already married to Georges the French composer. Other directors or screenwriters would have shown their wedding in detail, peppered with gags. But Weir sees that this is not necessary, it would only follow the convention.

Later we have unexpected plot twists and changes in the characters that are not always convincing but give the film an interesting, not too light base tone. And actually, Peter Weir is a too enthusiastic director to make a visually rather undemanding romance film. So he introduces some wonderful visual ideas like the scene where Georges is standing in front of Brontë's door, covered with a blanket, calling her name, while the camera shoots him from inside, through the watcher`. I'm not particularly fond of Andie MacDowell because she always seems even more nervous than my English teacher, always presenting herself with a pained smile. In Green Card` of course, the fact that she is not at all likeable (to me at least) fits perfectly, and one little wonder of the movie is that Gérard Depardieu can convincingly play that he is falling in love with her.

A comedy surprise.,