Smashing romantic comedy-drama about two youngsters in love. A movie-loving French boy and the daughter of Americans working abroad meet and eventually run away from Paris to Venice to seal their love within the bonds of a legend--never suspecting the romantic story they've been told is a tall one, thought up by a wily pickpocket (Laurence Olivier, hammy but not overdoing it) who ends up acting as their guardian. Herky-jerky continuity and a too-heavy police interrogation sequence do not mar otherwise lovely and funny film with a beautiful score by Georges Delerue (which deservedly won an Oscar). Diane Lane, in her debut, is a wise little princess with understanding eyes and a husky, charming voice. *** from ****

In the introduction to this film on Turner Classic Movies, host Robert Osbourne described this as a charming film. Also, I noticed that every review on IMDb I read liked the film as well. However, much of the charm was lost on me--mostly because the film seemed to sexualize kids. The stars were apparently 14 when they made it, but they look much younger. And so, when they talk about sex, it sure made me feel a bit uneasy--particularly when one boy was talking about how excited he was about his sister's large breasts. Now I am not against the idea of two young people falling for each other--but this film too often talks about sex instead of allowing the film to be charming. In addition, the two go off on a hair-brained adventure with a creepy old man--one who COULD be a sex offender, serial killer or telemarketer! Lauren (Diane Lane) and Daniel (Thelonious Bernard) are young folks who meet in Paris. She's an American living with her annoying mother and her step-father. He's a cinema buff who lives with his dad. Despite coming from different cultures, they hit it off immediately and become good friends. However, when Lauren introduces Daniel to her parents, things do NOT go well and Lauren is told she cannot see him again--so she does the logical next step and runs away to Venice with him. However, they cannot get over the border by themselves because of their age, so they enlist the help of a creepy old man (Laurence Olivier) who agrees amazingly quickly to help them with their scheme.

While there are some nice performances in this film, I couldn't help but think like a parent and think how insanely stupid these two kids were. And, how pretentious they were as they talked about philosophy. Most others were charmed--I just wanted to smack them! As for the mother (Sally Kellerman),her character was inconsistent--having been married several times and befriending a lot of bohemian actors YET she was so easily scared of allowing her daughter to spend time with Daniel. Odd, that's for sure. It's obvious that I didn't like the film--mostly because the script was chock full of holes and creepy vignettes. It's not inconceivable that two dumb 13 year-olds could run away but beyond that, it just didn't work for me and I was not impressed.

By the way, the notion of two odd kids running off together COULD work. After all, I DID like "Moonrise Kingdom"--probably because it avoided overtly sexualizing the kids and had no creepy old man. Drop the creepy old guy, talk about sex less and make the film fun--then it could work.

If A Little Romance had only been made 15 years earlier it would have been a perfect vehicle for the greatest boulevardier of all, Maurice Chevalier. The part of the aging conman and pickpocket was made for Chevalier. But with Maurice beyond the casting calls instead we got an ersatz Frenchman and a most reasonable substitute in Laurence Olivier.

Set in Paris, Venice, Verona, and the countrysides of France and Italy, A Little Romance is a charming film about two teens reaching puberty, the daughter of actress Sally Kellerman who is filming in Paris played by Diane Lane and Thelonius Bernard, the son of a Parisian taxi driver with all that that profession's reputation brings to bear.

Bernard is an American film fanatic and when he hears about Kellerman shooting in Paris he sneaks on the set and meets Lane. The two start spending an awful lot of time together and also meet up with Olivier who as his profession of conman brings to bear has quite a line for them. They conceive of a plan to follow a legend to have a romantic kiss under the Bridge of Sighs in Venice. And they have to get it done quick because Kellerman's husband Arthur Hill is being transfered to Houston from Paris by his company.

The kids are charming, but they sure have to go some to keep up with Laurence Olivier. Sir Larry pulls out the entire bag of scene stealing tricks for his performance.

Broderick Crawford who also in the film Kellerman is shooting plays himself and in this cameo is brutally and frankly himself. Crawford's well known fondness for liquor is talked about here by Crawford with incredible frankness. I was surprised to that it was thusly so.

Film fan Bernard was in Parisian cinema houses seeing some old films and among those he saw were Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting both directed by George Roy Hill who directed A Little Romance. I guess Hill was saying Bernard had excellent taste in American cinema.

A Little Romance could easily be remade today, but I wonder where you would find a Maurice Chevalier or a Laurence Olivier for the aging matchmaker. Perhaps Ian McKellan would be best.