G-Max and I were looking forward to the highly acclaimed TIME OUT, an aptly named but ultimately disappointing French movie that was so static, so devoid of urgency, so lacking in any type of dramatic development (during most of it we watch the main character standing still, sitting quietly, walking slowly, gazing out rain-streaked windows, or -- get this -- sleeping in his car, while life-is-sad violin music sobs and surges on the soundtrack) that G-Max, empathizing with the main character, fell sound asleep himself, and I had to resort to pinching my thighs, rolling my head, sitting up very very very straight, contorting my lips, and rubbing my arms in order to keep from joining him in slumberland.

This is one of those movies where the main character is hiding an embarrassing situation from his family; within the first ten minutes we know everything there is to know about that situation, but then we have to wait an hour and a half until his family catches on, at which point instead of showing us the dramatic interaction between the main character and his family, the director jumps forward in time a few months to show us that the main character has changed completely. The movie then ends abruptly without explaining how or why he has changed. All this is a shame because much of TIME OUT is realistic and well acted.

My rating on the Watson Scale: 2