Asthmatic young man from New York, having humiliated his celebrated author-father by falling asleep during his college exams, is sent on a bicycle tour through Spain; there, he meets a British spinster (in and out of her spectacles), and the two forge a fumbling friendship which eventually turns to uncertain romance. Modest, moderately engaging comedy-drama written by Alvin Sargent is awfully derivative (Sargent's work defies the term 'original screenplay', with nearly everything here borrowed from a similar source). The Spanish travelogue is certainly nice, but the plot is a pinch of "Summertime", a dash of "Love Story", and the list goes on. Timothy Bottoms was most likely cast after wooing an older woman in "The Last Picture Show" (it worked before, let's try it again!). Unfortunately, the callow actor doesn't quite match up with elegant but sharply-etched Maggie Smith (and, since it's been established he's a purveyor of nudie magazines, we have to wonder what the attraction for him is in this mature, tightly-wound lady). They are quite a pair: he wheezes, she whistles--an irony we can perceive for ourselves, but which Sargent feels the need to articulate to us. Producer-director Alan J. Pakula guides the relationship along at a snail's pace; perhaps Michael Small's lushly romantic score caused the filmmaker to pad the running time with back-and-forth looks that last a lifetime. ** from ****
