3.5 stars out of 5
The Woody Allen World Tour rolls on: New York, London, Barcelona, Paris, and now… Rome. Hey, for those of us who can’t afford international travel, it’s not a bad deal. Woody is becoming a cinematic EPCOT.
This one feels like Woody Lite, but I don’t really have a problem with that, do you? Generally his movies delve into deeper themes. The deepest of themes. To Rome With Love is more like his New Yorker essays. It’s light and goofy, and sometimes just silly. And if not everything works, that’s OK, because this is a collection of unconnected stories, and nothing sticks around too long.
So we get:
–“I wish I knew then what I know now.”
–“Celebrity culture is random and fickle”
–“Lovers are unfaithful”
–People sing better in the shower”
As you see, nothing really earth-shattering or particularly original. (If there’s an overarching theme, it’s the folly of stardom, which factors into 3 of the 4 storylines.) Helping to raise the level a bit is yet another batch of stellar performances. I feel like the casting director hacked into my Facebook account, because many of my favorite projects are represented. You’ve got 30 Rock (Alec Baldwin), Adventureland (Jesse Eisenberg), Juno (Ellen Page), The Newsroom (Alison Pill), and, uh, I’m sure I’ve clicked “like” on something involving Penelope Cruz. Good to see Roberto Begnini again too.
Character-wise, we get two Woody stand-ins this time: Primarily Eisenberg, but also Alessandro Tiberi. See? Italians can be nervous schmendrakes also. But we don’t totally need a stand-in because we’ve got Woody himself, and it’s a treat to see him. He hasn’t shown up onscreen since 2006’s Scoop, his comic rewrite of Match Point. No one delivers Woody’s lines like Woody. From the second we see him complaining about turbulence, I had a smile on my face.
And you’ll probably walk away with more :)’s than LOLs, but it’s a nice relaxing time at the movies, and a fun, air-conditioned vacation to Rome with interesting friends. I’ll happily settle for that on any summer day.
(P.S. The 13-year-old me is astonished that I didn’t mention Carol Alt in this review.)
What else did Jew think? Jew eat yet?