Review of To Rome with Love (2012) by Jeffrey M — 20 Sep 2013

To Rome with Love represents one of Allen's lesser works of the past decade, especially in light of the brilliant Blue Jasmine and Midnight in Paris. It is a slight film, and only sporadically funny. Woody Allen is the master of the lighthearted comedy, but his best work finds the human dynamics at play, and gives us humor with a biting satirical edge. To Rome with Love simply feels too gimmicky with its plot devices, and too on-the-nose with its humor. Consider the plot line involving the Italian man who becomes famous for no reason, it's all too obvious and inexplicable, even for Allen.

The biggest failing with To Rome with Love is that none of the story-lines are especially compelling, nor are they connected with any ingenuity. It's all too light, whimsical, and shallow. That is the most striking indictment against the film, it's shallow. Allen is capable of great nuance and some of the most intelligent humor put to film, To Rome with Love is simply lazy Allen on autopilot. It has some charm, to be sure, with a few funny moments, but the film feels too derivative of Allen's earlier works, especially his lesser works.

The cast feels wasted amidst a script that doesn't give them any real room to develop, placing its characters in increasingly absurd situations for the sake of absurdity. It's all very over-done and lackluster in its execution.

A disappointment all around, especially for any serious Woody Allen fan.

2/5 Stars.