A Previous Engagement (2008)

30% of critics liked it
(20 reviews)
56% of users liked it
(85 ratings)

A second honeymoon in Malta turns into a life-altering experience for a bored Seattle librarian and her unadventurous, insurance salesman husband in this mature romantic comedy starring Juliet Stevenson, Tchéky Karyo, and Daniel Stern. Twenty-five years ago, Julia (Stevenson) and her passionate… More A second honeymoon in Malta turns into a life-altering experience for a bored Seattle librarian and her unadventurous, insurance salesman husband in this mature romantic comedy starring Juliet Stevenson, Tchéky Karyo, and Daniel Stern. Twenty-five years ago, Julia (Stevenson) and her passionate French lover Alex (Karyo) made a promise to meet up in the romantic Mediterranean hot spot where they exchanged their first glance. Now stuck in a marriage with a man who seems more interested in assembling jigsaw puzzles than pleasing his neglected wife, Julia takes her husband Jack (Stern) on a trip to Malta under the guise of celebrating a second honeymoon. But the truth is that Julia has been fantasizing about Alex for years, and she's determined to make good on her promise to meet him, perhaps rekindling their old flame in the process. When Alex shows up with his sexy young girlfriend (Kate Miles) in tow, Julia can't help but wonder if she and her lover have been leading the wrong lives all these years. Later, when Alex storms their holiday villa declaring his devotion to Julia for the whole world to hear, Jack makes his mission to become the lover his wife has always longed for. In order to make that transformation Jack will take lessons in dancing and loving from a passionate ex-chorus girl (Valerie Mahaffey), but when the time comes for Julia to decide between the husband she's never known and the lover she's always longed for, will his noble efforts be enough to save a failing marriage? ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 58 min.
Directed By: Joan Carr-Wiggin
Genres: Comedy, Romance

In Theaters: May 9, 2008 Wide
Studio: Palisades Pictures

Critic Reviews

John Anderson, Variety
Despite the occasional detour into mawkishness, "A Previous Engagement" nicely balances unutterable truths about marriage and love with the comedy that is human interaction and the unending drama that is man and women, repulsion and attraction.
Philip Marchand, Toronto Star
This is a romantic comedy where the romance is too fraught with implications for a comedy, and the treatment of character is too flippant for a romance.
Lou Lumenick, New York Post
While this slow-starting update of Private Lives has plenty of laughs, the incredibly expressive Stevenson turns Julia's romantic dilemma into something genuinely moving. She makes A Previous Engagement something special.
Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times
Director Joan Carr-Wiggin intends to strike a blow for frustrated wives and mothers everywhere, but her unimaginative mixture of obvious farce and feeble midlife crisis harangues gives everything the whiff of interminable theater.
Jason Anderson, Globe and Mail
Though frantic from the get-go, A Previous Engagement rarely finds its feet. Devoid of the fine balance of grace and chaos necessary to any screen farce, the proceedings are slapdash, repetitious and badly overextended.
Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times
More tired than the fantasy it promotes, A Previous Engagement aims at middle-aged women with the subtlety of a pitch for bladder-control medication.
Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly
There are worse movies, but most restrain themselves to only one scene of Daniel Stern learning to salsa.
MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher
[H]its every single damn note in precisely the wrong way... strains for screwball and misses entirely...
Maitland McDonagh, TV Guide's Movie Guide
A little...have gone a long way to offsetting the film's sticky sweetness.
Liz Braun, Jam! Movies
While it has a good cast and what might have been a reasonable story, it's a movie that lacks courage.
Mark Keizer, Boxoffice Magazine
Carr-Wiggin doesn't have the chops to pull off a romantic farce, but she's so game for the attempt that we patiently wait for the movie to steer a steadier course.
Shirley Sealy, Film Journal International
There are a few laughs in A Previous Engagement, but not nearly enough.
Matt Pais, Metromix.com
Middle-aged malaise is certainly underrepresented on screen, and maybe this is why.
Tatyana Gershkovich, L.A. Weekly
Alternatively contrived...and on-the-nose...adding up to a cookie-cutter romantic comedy.
Susan Granger, SSG Syndicate
It's the rarest of all things: an intelligent, sophisticated romance with real meat on its bones.
Bill Weber, Slant Magazine
Malta's tourism industry will likely survive A Previous Engagement, a mirthless rom-com that sadistically strands once-prime comedic players Juliet Stevenson and Daniel Stern on the sunny Mediterranean spot in a protracted, sub-sitcom scenario.