I liked the first two films of these interconnected movies "Before Sunrise"(1995) and "Before Sunset"(2004). I've always liked Ethan Hawke's acting and I thought the scripts were full of life and fresh dialog. I felt that way for maybe 1/2 of this latest film and then, for me, it just deteriorated into one long argument between the two protagonists, often accompanied by vicious barbs and personal verbal attacks. I thought for a moment I was back watching "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf", from decades before.

It was not entertaining for me to watch Jesse(Hawke) and Celine(Julie Delpy) try to win this argument by throwing out all the stereotypes, generalizations, and platitudes that you might find in "Men Are From Mars-Women Are From Venus". They've been together now for many years, and the parents of twin girls Ella and Nina. Jesse is divorced and his son Henry is just leaving Jesse to head back to the States where he lives with his mother. They've all been vacationing in beautiful Greece for the summer.

As mentioned, why ruin all the positives of the first two films and half of this one with all this mean spiritedness?

Mixed feelings about this movie, the third of Richard Linklater's trilogy.

The trilogy started in 1995 with Before Sunrise, continued in 2004 with Before Sunset and now, another nine years later, we have Before Midnight. The movies follow the lives and love of Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy),with the span in years between movies reflecting the spans in their lives. We are getting snapshots of their lives, at nine-year intervals.

Before Sunrise was OK, but not great. Really a dressed-up romantic drama, just with a more realistic and original plot and more subtle direction than your average romance movie.

Before Sunset was the pick of the bunch. Rather than just a snapshot, it relates, through their dialogue, all the happenings in the last nine years of their lives, and demonstrates how much each of them were key in the other's life. It had more of a complete story and more character development.

Before Midnight now picks up with them together, with their two kids, holidaying in Greece. Like the first two, it is very dialogue-intensive. Like the first two (especially Before Sunrise) the dialogue can be a big negative at times: pretentious, navel- gazing stuff.

However, on the plus side, we get to see how relationships end up. Romantic dramas tend to end with the couple walking off into the sunset, very much in love, blissfully happy and without a care in the world. They never cover all the unromantic, even irritating, stuff that comes after it: kids, domestic life, mundanity. This does.

On the downside, there is a reason this is never covered: it's boring, even annoying. Who wants to see a bitter, very protracted argument between husband and wife? Or people discussing domestic stuff?

Thus, a two-edged sword.

So, kudos to Richard Linklater for the concept of these movies and for not shying away from the less glamorous domestic years in a relationship. However, the domestic years aren't very entertaining to watch...

It's 9 years after 'Before Sunset' in the 3rd movie of the Before series. Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) are unmarried living in Paris with their twin daughters. Jesse has written 2 more books. It's one of the last days of their summer vacation in Greece. Jesse sees his son Hank off after spending the summer with him. Hank's mom is still angry and Jesse wants so much to spend more time with him in Chicago. Celine is thinking about taking a government job with complications.

They are 41. They have kids. It has the naturalistic long takes very much in keeping with the previous movies. I love the sly humor and human scale of their lives. There is also something great about growing old with these characters. This is what comes after happily-ever-after of the second movie. I do like the scenes with Jesse and Celine alone more than the scenes with other people. I don't mind the other characters but I loved the private moments with just those two wandering around bullshitting. Also it's great to have them continue their relationship with their problems.