Sunday, February 12, 1995

The Arts: ‘Solitaire for 2’

In Solitaire for 2 (15), Amanda Pays plays an archaeologist with ESP who goes around hitting men because they’re thinking dirty thoughts about her. Mark Frankel plays a flash geezer who is an expert in body language. Boy meets girl, boy chases girl, girl hits boy, and so on.

Gary Sinyor, of Leon the Pig Farmer fame, wrote, co-produced and directed. It’s a brave attempt, but romantic comedy is the hardest of all genres to pull off (which is why Four Weddings and a Funeral was such a miracle) and this doesn’t quite make it. The pace is more sloppy than snappy, the characters are unconvincing, and the London locations don’t fit together. And I really don’t think Hampstead Heath at night, is the place for a romantic stroll, do you?