This movie has two charming lead actors and some pretty scenery. Other than that, it has about the worst script and supporting roles of any movie I have ever suffered through. HOW was this movie nominated for a Best Writing Oscar???? The dialogues are not even vaguely clever. And, equally confounding to me, WHO went to the theater and actually paid to see this movie??? It's not funny, it's not really romantic. And it is certainly very aggravating, especially when we have to deal with the second couple. This movie confounds me, but not in any interesting way.

Even though Albert Finney and Audrey Hepburn created some magical chemistry together in spite of the shoddy material that was handed to them, even though the sweet Mancini score was very endearing, and even though the scenery of southern France was breathtaking, I found the repetitious dialogue very monotonous after the first hour or so. Having been married for 27 years, I understand at least a little bit of what the writers and director were trying to express, but an hour of this was more than enough for me to endure.The segment with William Daniels, Eleanor Bron, and their spoiled brat of a child was entirely too realistic for me and became more annoying than entertaining. I have known too many disagreeable nudnicks like Cathy and Howard Manchester in real life, and the very thought of suffering through a long road trip with them actually made me instantly carsick. Why would Joanna and Mark agree to do this in the first place? If a reason were given, I must have nodded off at that point. The role of Maurice (Claude Dauphine) as Mark's perpetually invasive, interfering boss also became very displeasing and unrealistic to me. How could these architects achieve so much success when they designed a house with a fundamentally flawed electrical system? Was there a subtle message there about the shaky basis of Mark's supposedly accomplished career? "Mark, can I speak to you for ten minutes?" Oh shut up, Maurice. Less talking and more thought, please. And what exactly did Joanna see in David? To me, he was just another stiff who only helped to weigh the movie down even more.While the major components of the whole, especially the lovely presence and strong performance of Audrey Hepburn, should have produced an outstanding overall result, this just fell flat for me. The trip started out smooth, but I found myself getting very road weary in the middle and looking for the nearest Best Western where I could take a good nap.

Two For The Road came out of nowhere and completely blindsided me. It was a Friday night, I had nothing to do, and this was Hepburn and Donan, who had worked so well together in Charade. I had absolutely no warning of the film I was about to watch, I thought I was watching a charming romantic comedy, and that was somewhat true. I was watching a charming romantic comedy mixed with gut wrenching drama.The story is the marriage of two people Joanna and Mark. They meet when Joanna's choir group gets sick with the chicken pox, leaving only Mark and Joanna unharmed. They both head out on the road to hitchhike falling in love in the process. The film follows their marriage from the beginning all the way to the end, or perhaps just a new beginning.The first thing that I find unique about Two For The Road is it's non-linear narrative. We cut back and forth from the beginning, to the end, to the middle, etc. It keeps the film fresh and exciting and makes the scenes of early love so gut-wrenching as opposed to the later scenes of fighting and pain. This film is not afraid to show two people fall in love at the same time as the fall out of love. Now the performers. Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney have the greatest chemistry than I have ever seen. As opposed to her previous films with her falling in love with men 30 years her senior, here the relationship feels perfectly balanced. This is probably Audrey Hepburn's best performance, and one of Albert Finney's greatest.The film balances however on maintaining a balance between the earlier and later scenes and this duty falls mainly upon the director and the writer. The screenplay by Frederic Raphael is wonderful featuring many scenes of wonderful comedy and heartbreaking drama. The direction by Stanley Donan is some of his best.The film however suffers from the classic "hollywood ending" which is taints an otherwise great film, making it instead just very good. I give it 10 stars because it managed to move me in a way I have never felt before. It is a truly great film.

Two for the Road is directed by Stanley Donen and written by Frederic Raphael. It stars Albert Finney and Audrey Hepburn. Music is by Henry Mancini and Christopher Challis is the cinematographer. Film basically deconstructs in non-linear fashion the relationship between Joanna (Hepburn) and Mark Wallace (Finney). Set out on the road as the couple meet, go on vacation, fall out and make up, narrative is threaded over a 12 year period.Donen and Raphael have crafted a picture that takes the many emotional strands of man and woman relationship, and lays them out bare for us all to see. It's this honest like approach, coupled with the two watchable lead actors, that really engages me personally. There's moments of fun, slapstick even, but these are always coupled to an onset of sadness or regret, making this neither comedy or drama, but a near perfect fusion of the two; or bittersweet to coin an actual term. Mancini's music is sweet and breezy, the title track apparently one of his personal favourites, while Challis' Panavision photography is often beautiful. There's some credibility stretching with Hepburn playing her younger self, and one on going gag is overcooked in the extreme, but Two for the Road still feels fresh and interesting to those willing to invest fully in the thematics of the human marital condition. Film also signs off with a killer bit of dialogue from the protagonists that you wont be able to forget. 8/10