Evidently, this film is known by many titles (including an English one called "Euro Pudding") but it was released in this country as "L'Auberge Espagnole".  This movie is part drama and part comedy and takes place in current day France.  This is a nice, entertaining film with engaging characters but don't expect anything deep or complex to the story.

      The story starts off with Xavier trying to decide what to do with his life after high school.  On the advice of his father's friend, Xavier decides to go to college in Barcelona, Spain where he can learn the language and study economics. Unfortunately, this means leaving his girlfriend Martine behind in France.  However, he goes anyway and upon arrival he meets a young couple at the airport.  After staying for a while at this couple's apartment, Xavier ends up sharing an apartment with many other students, most who are from different countries.  He becomes good friends with this group of students but also engages in an affair with the young wife he met at the airport when his relationship with Martine starts to fall apart.

      There is a lot to like about this movie and some things that aren't so good. Romain Duris as Xavier seems to be perfect in this role.  He is very believable playing this college student who is questioning what do to with his life.  It is also nice to see Audrey Tautou again in a pivotal but small part.  Tautou was so charming in the film "Amelie".  Unfortunately, she is not in this film nearly enough.  My other problem is that we do not get to know all the other students who are sharing the apartment with well enough.  We only get to see glimpses of their personalities and it would have been more satisfying to learn more about them.  But the movie is really all about Xavier, so we do get to know a lot about this character.

      I like the way the film blends drama with comedy elements.  The dialogue is very well written and there is much spoken humor thrown in among all the serious problems that these people are going thru.  There is also some neat camera work that goes on some, but not too much to get on your nerves.  Often a film goes way overboard with these camera "techniques" but in this film, the director gets it just right.

      So, if you are in the mood for a lighthearted and good-natured movie about young adults learning to live in the real world and deciding how to steer their lives, then you will be entertained by this film.  It's a story about people with lots of good dialogue and interesting characters.  It doesn't deal with complex and troubled themes, but takes the more lighthearted and fun route.