A completely silly film for the intellectually pompous.

Rating: Null/10 (16 August 2007)

Well, if you want to watch two unattractive 30-something smokers who talk a load of philosophical twaddle while attempting to intellectually crawl through the absurdity of the X Generation's philosophical pretense to , um, get laid or whatever, then you might actually force yourself to watch this tripe all the way through.
It's a silly and meaningless film, fatuous, but it will probably appeal to the armchair philosopher who undoubtedly believes he's watching something, like, um, really deep as he discusses it over the wrong wine with the crappy shrimp dinner  The acting is pretty good, in the sense that the actors are not self-conscious (unlike the film) and can at least remember their lines, but the script is simply a wordy pseudo-intellectual waste of time, flecked with the tell-tale anxiety that is always present when the superficial attempt to describe existence. I am sure the writers believe they're intellectuals, breaking barriers in dealing with ongoing male/female angst don't you know, throwing in a few French phrases to flatter the audience, who also think they're intellectuals but whose French is limited to "oui" and "Coca Cola", but who cares  In the end, no one cares. In the end it's a romance that's not romantic.
Some critics on this board have attempted to compare this to "My Dinner with Andre", which is truly a masterpiece of writing (and a 9/10). "Before Sunset" has only a pale semblance to that great film.
Four out of 10 only because the actors do a great job with a pretentious script.