Russell Crowe has many talents, but a gift for light comedy is not one of them. He's teamed here with his Gladiator director, Ridley Scott, to film Peter Mayle's souffle of a novel about a London workaholic who inherits a Provence vineyard from his uncle (Albert Finney) and finds serenity. He also takes a chance on love in the comely person of a cafe owner (Marion Cotillard). The scenery is glorious; you can almost feel the sunshine and smell the wine. But Crowe and Scott are bulls in Mayle's china shop. Like an assertive Burgundy served with a delicate fish, they're a classic wrong pairing.

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.