L’Auberge Espagnole (aka “The Spanish Apartment”) offers up romantic comedy with a multicultural coming-of-age twist, following French economics student Xavier (Romain Duris) as he travels to Spain and shacks up with a diverse group of Germans, Brits, Italians and Spaniards. It’s love and maturation U.N.-style, and in director Cédric Klapisch’s hands, Xavier’s story is a vehicle for tepid farce, quick-hit dramatic dilemmas, and gooey sentimentality. A cross-section of the forthcoming European Union, Xavier and his pals enjoy fun, messy, complicated lives in their tiny shared abode, alternately dealing with their difficult landlord, one-night stands, grumpy girlfriends, and an obnoxious houseguest who thinks ugly stereotype-laden jokes are a riot. But since the film is only after facile, preachy uplift via paper-thin plot strands – including a paternity revelation that’s dropped as soon as it’s introduced – there’s little to hold one’s attention save for the cutie-pie faces of Klapish’s uniformly attractive and/or quirky-looking cast. And while Duris and Audrey Tautou (as Xavier’s unhappy long-distance lover) may be nice to look at, L’Auberge Espagnole’s cheery characters are ultimately stuck wending their way through wackily contrived scenarios fit for a sitcom.
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