Barcelona (film)

Barcelona is a 1994 American romantic comedy-drama film written, produced, and directed by Whit Stillman. Set in Barcelona, the film stars Taylor Nichols, Chris Eigeman, and Mira Sorvino.

Barcelona is the second film—after Metropolitan (1990) and preceding The Last Days of Disco (1998)—in what Stillman calls his "Doomed Bourgeois in Love" series. The three films are independent of each other except for the cameo appearances of some common characters.

Premise
In 1987, Ted Boynton is a Chicago salesman living and working in Barcelona. Ted's cousin, Fred, a naval officer, unexpectedly comes to stay with Ted. Fred has been sent to Barcelona to handle public relations on behalf of a U.S. fleet scheduled to arrive later.

The cousins have a history of conflict since childhood. Ted and Fred develop relationships with various single women in Barcelona and experience the negative reactions of some of the community's residents to the context of Fred's presence. Ted also faces possible problems with his American employer and with the concept of attraction to physical beauty.

Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Barcelona holds an approval rating of 81% based on 36 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7/10. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 74 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Year-end lists

 * 5th – Bob Strauss, Los Angeles Daily News
 * 7th – Yardena Arar, Los Angeles Daily News
 * 8th – Todd Anthony, Miami New Times
 * Top 9 (not ranked) – Dan Webster, The Spokesman-Review
 * Top 10 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – Steve Murray, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
 * Top 10 (not ranked) – Betsy Pickle, Knoxville News-Sentinel
 * Best of the year (not ranked) - Jeffrey Lyons, Sneak Previews
 * Best "sleepers" (not ranked) – Dennis King, Tulsa World