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EW review: 'Engagement' pretty but grim

By Jeff Labrecque
Entertainment Weekly

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YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS

Audrey Tautou
Keri Russell
Britney Spears

(Entertainment Weekly) -- The talented minds behind "Amelie," the quirky 2001 French film that introduced doll-eyed Audrey Tautou to American audiences, focus their vibrant visual sensibility upon a darker tale.

Superstitious Mathilde (Tautou) refuses to believe the news that her fiance, Manech (Gaspard Ulliel), died during the war and sets out to find him in "A Very Long Engagement." Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet expertly depicts the grim realities of trench warfare during World War I while simultaneously dazzling us with the beauty of 1919 Paris and the French countryside. But, as even Jeunet concedes in his commentary (in French with English subtitles -- mon Dieu!), "the story is so complicated ... even we were lost at times."

Moreover, the clever narrative style that made "Amelie" so endearing disrupts the timbre of this somber piece. Think Edith Piaf singing a Tammy Wynette tune.

EXTRAS The film's deft, seamless blend of CG effects -- of Paris, of an exploding zeppelin -- is revealed in a 73-minute making-of and two featurettes. In his commentary, Jeunet playfully commends Jodie Foster's cameo: ''She has a nice future in front of her.''

EW Grade: B-

'Laguna Beach: The Complete First Season'

Reviewed by Tim Stack

Welcome to the O.C. No, not that O.C. That's, like, totally fake. This is MTV's fun and frothy reality soap version of what actually goes on in Orange County -- which apparently includes hooking up, shopping, and more hooking up.

And school? Well, we never see the Laguna teens in school, but they are well educated in subjects like gossiping, surfing, and bar dancing (as evidenced by a fateful spring-break trip to Cabo).

Entertaining but empty, "Laguna Beach: The Complete First Season" is the TV equivalent of a summer beach read.

EXTRAS The bonus features are as flat as a Hilary Duff tune (which, incidentally, serves as the show's theme song): forgettable music videos from groups like Jag Star and the Pills, a Cribs-style visit to LC's gi-normous house, and a seemingly endless cache of deleted scenes -- all pretty much pointless, except for the fight between Trey and a midget. Surprisingly funny and very surreal.

EW Grade: B

'Mickey Mouse Club: The Best of Britney, Justin & Christina'

Reviewed by Chris Willman

Why? Because we lick you! Er, like you! The early '90s introduced as Mouseketeers the cherubs who would in a few years more directly impact America's youth with songs like ''Dirrty,'' ''I'm a Slave 4 U,'' ''Rock Your Body,'' and ''All Day Long I Dream About Sex.'' Watching four shows' worth of the formerly wholesome Spears, Timberlake, and Aguilera on "Mickey Mouse Club: The Best of Britney, Justin & Christina" -- before the voice and chest changes, before the piercings -- you realize you're being afforded a fascinating glimpse of Satan's own sleeper cell.

Spears, especially, is every bit as scarily camera-solicitous in her pubescent years as she is on "Chaotic." Fans of JC Chasez, Keri Russell, and Ryan Gosling will have to settle for seeing them sing along to the hip-hopped-up theme song. An earnest interview segment about teen depression, in which a gay lad talks about nearly being driven suicidal by mom's rejection, further drives home the fact that this was not your Grandpa Cubby's Club.

EXTRAS An audio commentary offers the distant sound of maniacal laughter. Or maybe we just imagined that. There's no supplement, though the menu offers quick access to at-home segments with Britney (''I eat like a horse. I eat soooo much'' ... crawfish), Justin (yes, he spoke in black patois even as a kid showing off his golf moves), and Xtina (her first horseback ride -- good prep, we're sure, for riding male dancers in many videos to come).

EW Grade: C+


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