A Walk in the Clouds (1995)

There's actually a pretty good plot device at the center of this 
overblown, undercooked vineyard romance.  Keanu Reeves stars as the 
phony husband of an unwed, pregnant stranger (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon).  
They meet on a train, and, later, a bus, where he learns that she's a 
college student in need of an explanation for her Mexican-American 
family.  He's a returned WWII GI who's already hitched, so he agrees to 
play the "gringo" for just one night.  The plan, for him, is to leave 
the next morning, but, ah, well, the rest is history. 
 
The comic potential in this set-up is great, as producers Jerry and 
David Zucker surely must have noticed, but director Alfonso Arau (LIKE 
WATER FOR CHOCOLATE) has been saddled with two burdens:  a weak script, 
and a stiff lead.  The dialogue is extra-bad, especially when overdoing 
it on the life lessons.  (Most of which come from the mouth of Anthony 
Quinn, also overdoing it as the lusty grandfather.)  Then there's Keanu.  
Well.. he tries.  He's just too stiff to be taken seriously.  And don't 
call him Shirley.  
 
Both of these demerits do wonders to cancel out the more appealing 
aspects of the movie.  Sure, it's overdone-- the music, the drama, even 
the golden-hued photography of Emmanuel Lubezki-- but the more playful 
parts of this story suggest that, with a stronger core, A WALK IN THE 
CLOUDS could've been heavenly. 
 
Grade: C+ 
 
Copyright 1995 by Michael J. Legeros 

Originally posted to triangle.movies