Lead actors shine in ‘My Old Lady’

Starring Kevin Kline, Maggie Smith, Kristin Scott Thomas and Dominique Pinon. Directed by Israel Horovitz.

Rated PG-13 for thematic material and some sexual references. Check listings for theaters. 1 hour, 44 minutes.

Bottom line: Actors make this anything but a waste

By Roger Moore

McClatchy-Tribune

Kevin Kline is a failed American writer, broke and in Paris to collect his inheritance — an ancient two-story apartment with an accompanying garden in the center city Marais district.

Maggie Smith is the 90-something Englishwoman living in it.

And Kristin Scott Thomas is the little old Englishwoman’s irritable, unmarried daughter who is determined that Mom won’t be moving anywhere, not any time soon.

Those are the makings of “My Old Lady,” a comedy of troubled family histories, Franco-American culture clashes and arcane real estate law.

Madame Girard (Smith) is grandmothered into this apartment, which Jim Gold (Kline) inherited from a father he hadn’t seen in decades. He shows up to check out and sell this property for some much-needed cash, and there she is — immovable. He owns the property, but only after she dies. The reverse annuity contract means that he has to pay rent to her, as well. It’s all in his dad’s will.

Then, there’s her daughter, Chloe (Scott Thomas). She’s easily rattled, a tad highly-strung and furious at this gauche American’s intrusion into their lives. She knows the law and isn’t above enforcing it. All Jim can do is scheme and sneak about, questioning Madame Girard’s doctor about her health, plotting a sale of this onerus contract to any wily Frenchman with more patience and the deeper resources it takes to wait the old lady out.

Veteran playwright Israel Horovitz (“Author! Author!”) adapted his play and directed this film of it, a theatrical movie that benefits from an immensely engaging and accomplished (two Oscar winners) cast. It’s a comedy of confessional monologues and overheard conversations, quite stagey at times.

But Smith and Kline and Scott Thomas give this a chance to sparkle. Kline dresses down wonderfully, and his offhand way with the “Franglais” dialogue beautifully clashes with Smith’s English precision.

“SPARE me the fromage!”

And Scott Thomas, as cutting in French as she is in English, makes a wonderfully spare sparring partner, vulnerable and wholly capable of lashing out.

“My Old Lady” gets tangled in its own feet in the third act as Horovitz tries to invest mystery where there is none and ratchets up the melodramatic connections between these three. But the venerable acting firm of Smith-Kline and Scott Thomas make certain that this Paris trip is anything but a waste.