Jump Tomorrow

New Yorker George goes to the airport to meet his Nigerian bride, Sophie, only to discover she arrived the previous day and is already at their wedding location, Niagara Falls.

At the airport George bumps into a Spanish girl, Alicia, who invites him to a party, and Frenchman Gerard, who was dumped by his girlfriend only moments before.

George and Gerard wind up at the party, which is for Alicia and her English boyfriend, Nathan, who are departing for Canada in the morning.

George, quite smitten with Alicia, has his reverie rudely interrupted when he learns that Gerard is on the roof of the apartment, threatening to jump. Fortunately George talks Gerard down, convincing him he can always "jump tomorrow".

The next day a grateful Gerard decides to take George to Niagara, known as the love and suicide capital of the world, while George is having doubts about his marriage, which only increase as he and Alicia seem destined to keep meeting on the road...

This unpretentious, entertaining little comedy of culture clashes marks a solid feature debut for British writer/director Joel Hopkins, re-united with the star of his breakthrough short Jorge, Tunde Adebimpe.

Though Jump Tomorrow has a few too many stereotypical characters - amorous Frenchmen, passionate Latins, upper class twit Englishmen - and a somewhat predictable story arc, its strengths - the enthusiastic, self-deprecating performances of the actors, an effervescent soundtrack, and some priceless comedy moments, like the quiet George fantasising himself as the macho hero of a Spanish-language soap opera - easily overcome these weaknesses.

Jump Tomorrow is unlikely to be the sort of film that will change anyone's life, but it is an entertaining way to spend an hour and a half. And with all those shots of a Citroen DS zipping round the countryside, I don't really care that it doesn't address the political situation in Nigeria...