When French television producer Tristan Carne hatched this idea, he couldn't have imagined the extraordinary talent that he would ultimately secure. With short films from directors like Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run), the Coen Brothers (Fargo), Alexander Payne (Sideways), Wes Craven (Scream), Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham) and Richard LaGravenese (Living Out Loud). Paris, Je T'aime is a unique filmgoing adventure.

The problem with any anthology is that things can be a bit uneven. Take 1985's Twilight Zone: The Movie. Most people preferred the George Miller-directed segment No. 4, with John Lithgow as a paranoid plane passenger, to the Jon Landis-, Joe Dante- and Steven Spielberg-directed chapters. In Paris Je T'aime, the dynamic is very different. Even when a vignette doesn’t quite work, it's only 5 minutes of screen time. Fortunately, the majority of the 20 shorts leave us wanting more.

The vignettes range from quirky to romantic to scary to funny to magical. Among the highlights:

• The Coen Brothers direct hangdog Steve Buscemi in "Tuileries," a funny short set in a Metro station in
• Vincenzo Natali (Cube) features Elijah Wood and Ukrainian model/actress Olga Kurylenko in a striking story of vampire love
• A poignant tale about a stabbed man in Places des Fetes directed by Germany's Oliver Schmitz (Mapantsula)
• Wes Craven sets his story in the Pere-Lachaise cemetery with the excellent Emily Mortimer (Lovely & Amazing) and Rufus Sewell (The Illusionist) as a couple in a spat that gets relationship advice from Oscar Wilde in the great beyond
• Oscar nominee Catalina Sandino Moreno, so good in Maria Full of Grace, is an immigrant mother who is nanny to a rich woman's child. in an especially sweet, melancholy episode from directors Walter Salles (Central Station, The Motorcycle Diaries) and Daniela Thomas (Foreign Land)
• The great Gena Rowlands wrote and stars in "Quartier Latin," deftly directed by Gerard Depardieu and Frederic Aubutin, the story of a long-married couple (Rowlands and Ben Gazzara) who discover old wound while preparing to sign divorce papers
• The final vignette, directed by Alexander Payne, is my favorite -- under-appreciated character actress Margo Martindale (Dead Man Walking, The Hours) plays a Denver mail carrier who makes a solo trip to Paris, speaks clumsy French and reflects upon her the solitary loneliness of her life

Some of the shorts don't work: Christopher Doyle's “Porte de Choisy,” an over-the-top tale of a traveling salesman and his fantastical stop at a Chinese beauty salon; and Nobuhiro Suwa’s overwrought story of a mother (Juliette Binoche) who gets one final moment with her dead son thanks to a mystical cowboy (Willem Dafoe). The joys of Paris Je T’aime, however, far outweigh its mild disappointments.

Whether it's a mime finding love, a teenage boy and his instant connection with a Muslim girl, or a couple introducing fantasy to the bedroom, this little movie is a charming, passionate tribute to the City of Light and the gifts of some of the greatest living talents in the movie business.

FantasyMoguls.com Lowdown on Paris Je T'aime
Original FantasyMoguls.com Projections for Paris Je T'aime were for a 6.8 IMDb User Rating, $4 million in total domestic box office, 0 Top 5 points and 5 PTA points. Steve Mason's revised projections, based on seeing the film and reviewing its updated release plan, are as follows:
Box Office -- $7.9 million
IMDb User Rating -- 7.3
Top 5 -- 0 points
PTA -- 7 points