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Created Aug 17, 2008 06:48PM PST • Edited Jun 03, 2013 06:37PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Very Good 3.5

   Less substantial bookend to Before Sunrise, weighing in at just 80 minutes. While the earlier movie felt fresh, this one came across as obligatory. Nonetheless, the movie updates us on two interesting characters that Before Sunrise lovers know and care about, and the liveliness of the two person dialog remains a rare and special thing.

4. Acting

   Very Good 3.5

   Ethan Hawke comes across yet again as a slippery dude grown into a man. Further, he seems to be playing a movie star acting in a movie, complete with tick-like mannerisms designed to emphasize how handsome he is.

   Julia Delpy can’t avoid seeming needy here. After all, while Hawke’s character is now stuck in an unhappy marriage, she remains frustratingly single and childless.

5. Male Stars Very Good 3.5

6. Female Stars Very Good 3.5

7. Female Costars Very Good 3.5

8. Male Costars Very Good 3.5

10. Film

    Very Good 3.5

    I remain a Richard Linklater fan, though can only recommended this movie to Before Sunrise lovers.

11. Direction Great 4.0

12. Play Great 4.0

13. Music Good 3.0

14. Visuals Really Great 4.5

    As the earlier movie was a postcard to Vienna, so this one is to Paris, which looks fabulous.

15. Content

16. Edge

    Tame 1.3

    Rarely is sex so much discussed by a couple, yet never acted upon. The movie passes “get a room” time not more than ten minutes in, yet do they ever get a room, or a secluded patch of grass, or the back seat of a cab? No!

17. Sex Innocent 1.3

18. Violence Gentle 1.0

19. Rudeness Polite 1.5

21. Reality

    Natural 1.0

    While I gave Before Sunrise a pass for 1990’s political naivete, this 2004 movie shows that the Frenchwoman and the American man have hardly learned the lessons of the ensuing years.

22. Circumstantial Natural 1.0

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0