Review of To Rome with Love (2012) by Maksim B — 28 Sep 2013

A good looking and mildly funny, To Rome with Love is a chaotic tribute to Rome, its people and the Italian culture. With the typical Woody Allen quirkiness, it has its charming dialogues, unique characters and unconventional humor, but unfortunately it fails to deliver the magic and the fantasy of Allen's previous tribute to a European capital: Midnight in Paris.

Speaking of Midnight in Paris, the comparisons with between it and To Rome with Love are inevitable. The Italian adventure of director Woody Allen is quite noisier and more chaotic than his midnight explorations of Paris. To Rome with Love tells the story of several character who happen to be in Rome at the same time. Every character is an archetype and every situation they are involved in is a tribute to a great city, its people and the typical Italian culture. As it could be expected, the movie lacks the finesse of Midnight in Paris, but has an excess of fast one liners and amusing moments.

Unfortunately, apart from the good amusing moments and the pleasing depiction of Italian stereotypes, the story has serious issues with space and time of events, as well as with the connectivity of the different stories. If the magical flirt of Allen with space and time in Midnight in Paris added up to a more beautiful, charming and nostalgic Paris, this same flirt causes only confusion in To Rome with Love. This, combined with the impossibility to connect the different sub-stories evokes feeling of watching a story filled with patchwork and inconsistencies.

Throughout the years, Woody Allen has proven that he could impress, surprise, stun, but also he could disappoint or seem as if a movie has been made just to please his personal taste or ego. To Rome with Love seems as one of those lesser deliveries by Allen. As if he was so pleased and charmed by the making Midnight in Paris that he wanted to do the same with another city he loves. This Roman adventure is definitely failing to please (especially those who have seen and enjoyed Midnight in Paris), but it surely has some good and some great funny moments.