When a character wears thick glasses throughout a movie, there’s usually a reason above and beyond scoring 20/20 on an eye test. It’s to suggest that the character is meek, an intellectual or is attempting, like Clark Kent, to disguise his true self.

In the case of Tom Ricks (Ethan Hawke), the troubled American novelist who is the protagonist of this absorbing psychological drama set in Paris, the glasses are a symbolic tip-off. Moviegoers see the film through Tom’s perspective but come over time to understand that his view may not be entirely reliable.

Tom, who taught at a university and hasn’t been able to write...

“Quirky” is one of those overused words that can damn with faint praise, especially when paired with “indie movie.”

To call the endearing “Safety Not Guaranteed” quirky, however, is an honest attempt to convey in a single word this indie dramedy’s many beguilements. Simultaneously loose-jointed and carefully constructed, it’s a heartfelt charmer about an eccentric guy planning to time-travel.

Early on, Jeff (Jake Johnson of TV’s “The New Girl”), a seasoned reporter at Seattle magazine, suggests to his dictatorial editor (Mary Lynn Rajskub, in an amusing cameo) that he track down the author of a classified ad which reads: “WANTED: Someone to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. … You’ll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. I...

Not since Julia Roberts has a movie star had a smile so wide and so ingratiating as Omar Sy, the likable lead of “The Intouchables.” When this French actor smiles, between his white teeth glistening and the edges of his eyes crinkling, his face lights up with the bright wattage of the Las Vegas strip.

Sy is one of the costars of “The Intouchables,” a French comic drama that has been a huge commercial hit in its native country. Sy won a César award (the Gallic Oscar equivalent) for his performance and the film was nominated in eight additional categories.

That he is a magnetic performer holds true no matter how one feels about the movie itself. This well-meaning, feel good, would-be inspirational tale of a friendship that crosses racial lines is bound to receive a more mixed reception Stateside than it did in France.

Also...

Just in time for Mother’s Day, “Girl in Progress” is providing illustrative lessons on how to be the antithesis of an exemplary Mom.

The movie’s not-so-model single mum eats the last of the cereal and milk before her adolescent daughter comes down for breakfast, is sleeping with a married man and leaves the kid alone overnight while crashing drunk at a new boyfriend’s house.

She then has the nerve to tell her daughter, “You need to grow up!”

In “Girl in Progress,” the daughter is trying to do exactly that, way too fast and way too soon for her own good.

This slight independent film, an...