A director since the late 1960s, Woody Allen has helmed 42 different films. Despite his loyalty to his New York City home, in recent years Allen’s films have been love letters to the countries and cities of Europe (who conveniently have been provide his financing too).
Out of his past eight movies, four were set in England (Match Point, Scoop, Cassandra’s Dream, You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger), one was set in Spain (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), one was set in France (Midnight in Paris), and one was set in Italy (To Rome With Love).
The last film is, of course, the most recent release and Allen’s anticipated follow-up to the phenomenal, Oscar-winning Midnight in Paris. What is unique about To Rome With Love, is that it is not a singular movie. Rather, it is a collection of four intercut short films, none of which connect with each other, but all of which are witty and funny, if only lightly so.
This is the first film Allen himself has acted in since 2006’s Scoop. Here he plays Jerry, a neurotic, retired opera director, visiting Italy with his wife (Judy Davis, Husbands and Wives) in order to meet his daughter’s fiancé (Flavio Parenti, I Am Love) and his family. Jerry discovers that the fiancé’s father, a mortician, has a beautiful singing voice and attempts to persuade him to pursue a singing career.
No one fit’s Allen’s dialogue more than the man himself and, after years of working together, he and Judy Davis have a natural chemistry. Alison Pill (The Newsroom) as the daughter, along with the Italian actors brought on to play the family, all do well and create a believable family.
The last film is, of course, the most recent release and Allen’s anticipated follow-up to the phenomenal, Oscar-winning Midnight in Paris. What is unique about To Rome With Love, is that it is not a singular movie. Rather, it is a collection of four intercut short films, none of which connect with each other, but all of which are witty and funny, if only lightly so.
This is the first film Allen himself has acted in since 2006’s Scoop. Here he plays Jerry, a neurotic, retired opera director, visiting Italy with his wife (Judy Davis, Husbands and Wives) in order to meet his daughter’s fiancé (Flavio Parenti, I Am Love) and his family. Jerry discovers that the fiancé’s father, a mortician, has a beautiful singing voice and attempts to persuade him to pursue a singing career.
No one fit’s Allen’s dialogue more than the man himself and, after years of working together, he and Judy Davis have a natural chemistry. Alison Pill (The Newsroom) as the daughter, along with the Italian actors brought on to play the family, all do well and create a believable family.
The running joke in these segments involves Jerry’s attempts to persuade the mortician (real-life opera tenor Fabio Armiliato) to sing well in public. It begins as a surprising gag, but an obvious one which goes on just long enough to stop being clever and start being silly.
Another story involving American actors concerns an architect, John (Alec Baldwin, The Cooler), dispensing advice to a young student, Jack (Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network), who is caught between his girlfriend (Greta Gerwig, Greenberg) and her seductress friend (Ellen Page, Juno). Page is great, displaying a persona so charismatic, it’s easy to see why she’s considered to be so alluring. Eisenberg and Gerwig are also good.
However, Baldwin’s character is just confusing! He pops in and out of scenes to deliver moral advice – often to Eisenberg, but sometimes to the other characters – and serves as a collective conscience. What is unclear is if John actually exists. The most obvious answer seems to be that he does not and the characters are simply imagining him to help them sort out their moral quandaries. Yet, it was pointed out to me that the opposite could be true; that John is simply wandering Italy and fantasizing about the others as he attempts to relive his glory days as a student in Rome.
This whole portion is a unique variation on traditional storytelling and keeps things interesting. But you couldn’t help but be distracted by it, because you are constantly wondering where Baldwin’s character has come from and what role he really plays in everything.
The audience is also introduced to Antonio and Milly (Alessandro Tiberi and Alessandra Mastronardi), a newly-wed couple arriving Rome so that Antonio can introduce Milly to members of his rich family. They become separated and Milly ends up spending the day with a movie star (Antonio Albanese), while Antonio, after a coincidental mistake, must pass off a prostitute (Penelope Cruz, Volver) as his wife to his family.
This story has its comedic moments, mostly from a scene-stealing Cruz, but many parts didn’t seem to fit. Antonio and Milly are a newly-wed couple in love, yet both seem ready to cheat on each other all too easily. Antonio grows a bit from his experiences, but Milly lacks any real character development. And their reunion seemed too rushed; we never learn how their individual experiences will help them as a couple. While all the other stories seemed to be an appropriate length, this is one that needed more time to be fleshed out. It’s unfortunate, because this is also the one that I think could have been developed into its own, stand-alone movie.
Lastly, Allen explores the triviality of celebrity, as Leopoldo (Roberto Benigni, Life is Beautiful), a boring clerk, suddenly becomes nationally famous, for no reason whatsoever. He is constantly mobbed by paparazzi who grill him on every facet of his life, including what he had for breakfast.
This is the most outlandish story, but also the most shallow, as Allen never really explores to any real degree the pride of popularity and the lesson of humility when forgotten. Those things are there, but they are only surface level. And Leopoldo, also, is all too willing to commit adultery when it doesn’t necessarily seem to align with his character.
Visually, the film is great. Allen loves to film beautiful cities, and Rome, like Paris last year, gets a full showcase. The dialogue is clever and snappy and the film never seems to miss a beat, with four individual stories helping the time to pass quickly. However, the film is held back by problems with plot, character, and ambiguity. Still, Allen continue to produce good work and, at 76, I hope he can keep it up for a long time.
The Final Word: Wait to rent it.
Another story involving American actors concerns an architect, John (Alec Baldwin, The Cooler), dispensing advice to a young student, Jack (Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network), who is caught between his girlfriend (Greta Gerwig, Greenberg) and her seductress friend (Ellen Page, Juno). Page is great, displaying a persona so charismatic, it’s easy to see why she’s considered to be so alluring. Eisenberg and Gerwig are also good.
However, Baldwin’s character is just confusing! He pops in and out of scenes to deliver moral advice – often to Eisenberg, but sometimes to the other characters – and serves as a collective conscience. What is unclear is if John actually exists. The most obvious answer seems to be that he does not and the characters are simply imagining him to help them sort out their moral quandaries. Yet, it was pointed out to me that the opposite could be true; that John is simply wandering Italy and fantasizing about the others as he attempts to relive his glory days as a student in Rome.
This whole portion is a unique variation on traditional storytelling and keeps things interesting. But you couldn’t help but be distracted by it, because you are constantly wondering where Baldwin’s character has come from and what role he really plays in everything.
The audience is also introduced to Antonio and Milly (Alessandro Tiberi and Alessandra Mastronardi), a newly-wed couple arriving Rome so that Antonio can introduce Milly to members of his rich family. They become separated and Milly ends up spending the day with a movie star (Antonio Albanese), while Antonio, after a coincidental mistake, must pass off a prostitute (Penelope Cruz, Volver) as his wife to his family.
This story has its comedic moments, mostly from a scene-stealing Cruz, but many parts didn’t seem to fit. Antonio and Milly are a newly-wed couple in love, yet both seem ready to cheat on each other all too easily. Antonio grows a bit from his experiences, but Milly lacks any real character development. And their reunion seemed too rushed; we never learn how their individual experiences will help them as a couple. While all the other stories seemed to be an appropriate length, this is one that needed more time to be fleshed out. It’s unfortunate, because this is also the one that I think could have been developed into its own, stand-alone movie.
Lastly, Allen explores the triviality of celebrity, as Leopoldo (Roberto Benigni, Life is Beautiful), a boring clerk, suddenly becomes nationally famous, for no reason whatsoever. He is constantly mobbed by paparazzi who grill him on every facet of his life, including what he had for breakfast.
This is the most outlandish story, but also the most shallow, as Allen never really explores to any real degree the pride of popularity and the lesson of humility when forgotten. Those things are there, but they are only surface level. And Leopoldo, also, is all too willing to commit adultery when it doesn’t necessarily seem to align with his character.
Visually, the film is great. Allen loves to film beautiful cities, and Rome, like Paris last year, gets a full showcase. The dialogue is clever and snappy and the film never seems to miss a beat, with four individual stories helping the time to pass quickly. However, the film is held back by problems with plot, character, and ambiguity. Still, Allen continue to produce good work and, at 76, I hope he can keep it up for a long time.
The Final Word: Wait to rent it.
This film really disappointed me because I thought Allen’s writing would at least be somewhat humorous, instead this played off more as just him trying to phone it in. Never thought I’d see that with a Woody Allen movie. Tsk tsk. Good review Ethan.
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