Max's turning point comes when he inherits his uncle's French vineyard. He makes a quick trip to see it, but a fall into an empty swimming pool and a meet-cute with a hot French girl (Marion Cotillard) cause him to stick around for a few days. At first, he intends to sell, but a sexy cousin (Abbie Cornish) as well as the comically one-dimensional French staff eventually help change his mind. Max sees his uncle in several flashbacks, giving Albert Finney a chance to shine in that role.
Max is nothing like other stock-trading Masters of the Universe, say, the slick reptile Michael Douglas played in Wall Street. This one is more like Hugh Grant, with floppy hair and big tortoise-shell glasses, bounding down staircases, doing comic double-takes and whipping out self-effacing one-liners. Though Crowe can be charming when he turns on his warmth and humor (see Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World), he's not cut out for cute romantic comedy. When he reteamed with Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind) to re-create some Oscar glory with Cinderella Man, the effort seemed too obvious. So Scott and Crowe's attempt at this warm, vacation-like movie with wine, beautiful girls and opulent surroundings comes as a refreshing surprise. But attempt and outcome are entirely different things. It could have been carefree and weightless like Under the Tuscan Sun, but A Good Year ultimately places too much strain on Max's predictable redemption rather than redeeming—and freeing—itself.