An international romantic adventure…about an old bottle of wine.
If there was one thing this forgotten ‘90s adventure rom-com had going for it that most other films of its kind never did, it was the kind of filmmaking pedigree that just couldn’t be bought. Then again, maybe it could have. Screenwriter William Goldman and director Peter Yates had earned their names in Hollywood through a string of classics including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Princess Bride, Misery, Breaking Away, Krull, and Bullitt. How then can such a pair be responsible for one of the most obvious, unromantic, laugh-free efforts of the early ‘90s? The answer, I fear, is not an easy one to reach; nor is the answer really all that worth it.
Year of the Comet centers on Margaret (Penelope Ann Miller), a wine expert sent over to evaluate the contents of a deceased wealthy man’s wine cellar. When Margaret discovers a bottle of red wine from the year 1811, the rare vintage is sold for a cool million to a wealthy wine connosieur who sends his assistant Oliver (Tim Daly) to collect it. However, trouble comes in the form of a French madman (Louis Jordan) who is hot on the trail of Oliver and Margaret for both the bottle and the secret it contains.
On paper, there is actually quite a lot about Year of the Comet which would make most audiences think the whole exercise was capable of working. The film has equal parts action and romantic comedy, a villain who is actually kinda villainous and dreamy, romantic settings such as the hills of Scotland and the French Riviera. And yet it just doesn’t work; any of it. Year of the Comet is nothing but an endless series of cliches. The area where this is at its most apparent is in the main characters, both of which barely feel like people worth sitting next to on an airplane let alone watching for the length of an entire feature film. It doesn’t take more than one scene to know that Margaret is buttoned-up and uptight and Oliver is carefree and fearless. The film’s lazy writing and elementary direction (both of which responsible for the movie’s many convenient moments) make the whole affair feel so thrown together with no turns or surprises to be had.
It’s hard to escape the general sense of boredom at every aspect of the film. I personally was able to get a lot of work done while it was playing in the background since there was nothing at all interesting going on, even when the action scenes are taking place. For a romantic comedy, there is literally nothing funny or romantic at all about this film. The comedy is trite with attempted jokes, such as Oliver telling Margaret to keep up as they run towards a bad guy who has stolen the priceless bottle before she outruns him, falling flat. Meanwhile, the romance of Year of the Comet feels like nothing more than a mere convention as there is nothing about these people suggests that there is any real connection or chemistry. Adding to it all is a stupid and ludicrous finale that, quite frankly, doesn’t make a lot of sense and is wrapped up a little too neatly.
Audiences would be hard-pressed to find a more blatant and desperate attempt to make movie stars out of a pair of actors who were clearly never meant to be. It isn’t that Miller and Daly aren’t capable performers (their respective long and varied careers prove this) but the pair falter in every scene they’re in. This is in part because the characters are sloppily written and in part because as good as they are, Miller and Daly just don’t know how to play sloppy. Jordan is the only one who holds his own in the film and there is a small bit of fun in seeing the actor in a delightfully moustache-twirling villainous role, even if the part (his last before retiring) is beyond beneath him.
Year of the Comet was originally written in the ‘70s, but for various reasons didn’t go before the cameras until the early ‘90s. Watching it again all these years later, I couldn’t help but wonder how would it have played out in the era in which it was originally conceived’ when films like Charade and How to Steal a Million were still considered fresh and fun. My guess is Year of the Comet would have been more exciting given that the premise would have flourished thanks to the freedom of the ‘70s rather than the somewhat conservative early ‘90s. Even if the twists would have still been easy to spot, the cliches could have been re-worked to something more invigorating, and Year of the Comet might have made for a deliciously entertaining blend.
Year of the Comet is now available on Blu-ray from Twilight Time.
