2 Days in Paris

Julie Delpy’s first foray into feature film directing, 2 Days in Paris is charismatic and frequently intelligent, though it could be much better than it is. That’s too bad, because Delpy, now best known for her roles in and screenwriting contributions to Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, is shrewd, her knowledge of cinema extensive. Here, she references Roberto Rossellini’s Voyage in Italy and Woody Allen’s Annie Hall (which, as many have already pointed out, she seems to want to re-imagine from Annie’s perspective). Delpy plays Marion, a Parisian expat living in New York who goes to visit her parents in Paris with her boyfriend, Jack (Adam Goldberg), after a jaunt to Venice. Furious discussions, dysfunction, flakiness and culture clashes ensue, all of which are handled competently, at times wonderfully; Delpy is obviously a talented dialogue writer, and builds a number of scenes to impressively frenetic, hilarious climaxes. Still, plot- and character-related gaffes persist: why, for instance, after being together for two years, have Marion and Jack never discussed their views on being friends with exes? And why have they schlepped their cat all the way from New York to Europe, only to leave it with Marion’s parents while in Venice? Delpy undoubtedly has a superb film in her; unfortunately, 2 Days in Paris is a bit too sloppy to be it. WAIT FOR THE REPS

2 Days in Paris is now playing at the Cumberland (159 Cumberland St.).