Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "The Cosmopolitans" is a 25-minute live action movie from 2014. The writer and director is Oscar nominee Whit Stillman and here we have a rare excursion from him to the small screen. This could have been the pilot episode for a long-running show actually, but it turned out the opposite. It was not picked up and so the characters we see in here never returned for more. Disappointing. There are some names that are somewhat famous I guess like Adam Brody or Oscar nominee Chloë Sevigny and Adriano Giannini has also appeared in some well-known projects.Here we have the story of a bunch of young people living in Paris, some of them from abroad, for example Americans (in Paris). I must say of course there were characters and situations that did nothing for me, but there was also quite a decent deal of positive scenarios that got me curious about what would happen next. Never gonna find out. Too bad as I may have given this series a chance at some point. Both the acting and script in terms of comedy were as solid as I'd expect from Stillman. Watch these 25 minutes. You will most likely not be disappointed.

Ed Dyson The biggest reason to recommend The Cosmopolitans is that it's unlike any other comedy pilot out there. You won't be blown away by its plotting, nor will you find loads of straightforward, sitcom-style gags here. But it's the tone, the rhythm of it that's so distinctive. As with many of Stillman's movies, the characters are slightly formal, awkward and unintentionally funny. One reviewer on here wondered who is meant to relate to a bunch of well-educated but impoverished American twenty- somethings living in Paris. Well, the answer is, anyone with an imagination. You don't have to be a tormented Louisiana cop with visions and a drinking problem to enjoy True Detective, do you? Yet whilst there are thousands of cop shows out there, there are no comedy dramas quite like this on TV. So if you like a bit of variation, give it a go.

Leftbanker It's like when you make a cake and forget to add the eggs except replace "eggs" with story. Like that. The pilot goes something like this: youngish people sitting around talking about how sad, lonely, and alienated they are in Paris. It's billed as a comedy/drama but you have to pay really close attention and weed through some accents to find anything remotely resembling humor. Absolutely nothing happens in the first installment (and perhaps the last?). While I applaud the idea of this pilot I wasn't very pleased with the execution. It's just too Whit Stillman who is too Woody Allen without Allen's brilliance for humor (at least sometimes). There's just too much of people trying to be clever, presumably just for the sake of it. What good is it to be clever if you aren't entertaining, or better, HOW can you be clever if you aren't entertaining? Answer: you can't.I found most of the dialogue to be stilted and unnatural. "His girlfriend, Clémence, left him." Why would he say this to someone he hardly knows. It reminds me of the joke, "Help, my son the doctor is drowning." And Hal talks about being lonely, "a feeling of being hollowed out, a void inside that seems as if it will never be filled." I got something to fill your void, 500 pounds of fresh horsesh@t.Stillman has made his career by portraying the lives of really uptight, rich, white punks. He should try hanging out with people who don't have their own drivers or wear thousands of dollars worth of clothes every time they step outside. How about people who work for a living? Is that so repugnant? The Italian character remarks about how Anglo men get pushed around by women. Perhaps, but it's better than getting pushed around by other men. He later gets into a little bitch fight with someone he called a pipsqueak.I had high hopes for this show as we've never had an American series set in Europe before this year (Welcome to Sweden is another train wreck). I was hoping for something that would help to dispel the stupid stereotypes of the French that so many Americans hold as gospel. "French waiters are rude. The French are arrogant." These stupid prejudices have been handed down in America for generations it seems. The Cosmopolitans (at least the pilot) focuses on whinny ex-pats who huddle together in Paris like they are trying to keep warm. There's a little bit about their learning the language which for most expats that is almost everything—or should be—and virtually nothing about how they actually live except a very claustrophobic scene of the girl stepping into her apartment. Maybe if she spent more on rent and less on her clothes she could swing a better place? Unless the next episode has new people who actually do something I'll probably pass.

kmitch0550 Exactly like Metropolitan, which was of it's time in 1990, but the world has moved on and clearly Stillman hasn't! What is he trying to say, let's all laugh at the stupid young white Americans? Fine, but it gets old within 10 minutes! I want Amazon to innovate not dredge up an old movie and just make more of it! There are often comparisons to Allen, but he is nowhere near that.. Chloe looks pretty, but she is way better than this! Transparent is the one to watch! Relevant, compelling and thought provoking! Also..I wonder who Amazon thought this was for? I don't think HBO would have made this! Who is his aud? Ex Harvard grads living in Manhattan?