A Previous Engagement Image
Metascore

Mixed or average reviews - based on 8 Critics What's this?

  • Summary: When Seattle librarian Julia Reynolds talks her unadventurous, jigsaw-obsessed husband, Jack, into a once-in-a-lifetime vacation on the Mediterranean island of Malta, she has a secret agenda: a date made 25 years earlier with her first love, Alex. But she's stunned when the sexy Frenchman not only shows up, but insists she's his true love, even though he brought his latest young girlfriend along. Did they really live the wrong lives? When Alex storms their holiday villa shouting his love, fantasy becomes reality. What happens when your husband discovers you've been sneaking kisses under the bed with an old boyfriend? The absent-minded, flat-footed insurance man takes action, transforming himself into a new man and getting dance lessons inside and out of the bedroom from an ex-chorus girl. With one last day in Malta, Julia must choose between the husband she never really knew and the man she's dreamt of for 25 years. (Buccaneer Films) Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 8
  2. Negative: 1 out of 8
  1. 75
    While this slow-starting update of "Private Lives" has plenty of laughs, the incredibly expressive (and too-seldom seen) Stevenson turns Julia's romantic dilemma into something genuinely moving. She makes A Previous Engagement something special.
  2. 50
    Even Stevenson, a singularly accomplished and versatile actress, can't do much with Julia's early scenes, in which she's forced to dither around like a complete idiot.
  3. Reviewed by: Jason Anderson
    38
    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.

See all 8 Critic Reviews