Review of To Rome with Love (2012) by Ian S — 26 Dec 2012

Woody Allen is slowly running out of cities! The Italian capital makes it his fourth Europen entry in the last seven years, which include three trips to London and one to Paris and Barcelona. If he carries on this way he'll have to move behind the iron curtain(he's of the old breed, so I imagine that term hasn't lost meaning to him). In fact, that wouldn't be such a bad idea. I'm sure there is some oligarch with a healthy sense of humor out there, ready to finance his efforts.

But enough about that! His 43rd film was release in the summer and guess what?! Since he is a man who has never lived outside of New York, Allen applies the same approach to Rome as he did with the other cities on his Europen trip: he films only the best known locations. Blessed with never visiting "The Eternal City" (I had the same luck with Paris, Barcelona and London), I don't blame him for not knowing the hidden jewels of a town he knows only as a tourist, like many of the more mobile film aficionados do. So, globetrottering snobs, consider yourself worned!

It is one of Allen's collages, dating back to Hannah and Her Sisters and some of the other work from that period. There are four or five major storylines, connected by their lightly surrealist and farcical nature. The only one I completely disliked was between the Italian actor star and the girl lost in the big city. The concept of an old loverboy who is that much cool and/or profound to make the fact he is being chased by a much youger girl into something explicable can be amusing. In this point in Allan's career, however, it takes much more than what he gave us for that to happen.

All of the other segments work up to a point. You get expected intelligence, good humor, sights and Roberto Benigni being calmer than we are used to, but still getting a chance to go over the top. Than, at about an hour into the movie, the laziness of developing these stories becames too obvious. You've seen everything you need to see, including all of the jokes, which from that point on become too repetitive, and all you are left with is learning where do these people, which have stoped being funny and thus lost their only value, finally settle.

There is one big reason why I liked this film. Woody is back in front of the camera! From the first moment, when he starts whining even before the camera sets on him, I felt I was in the company of an old friend who has some new things to say. Funny or not, his track record makes them worth hearing. And just to make it clear, they are almost always funny. It's easy to forget what an asset he is to his films. There is a scene here which is by now chewed out even by sit com standards. That's your standard "I just touched something I shouldn't and now I'm looking at my hands." With Allen, having his screen background in mind, you can't halp but to laugh even at that.

It was six years since he appeared in a film. Last time was in the Britain set Scoop. Well, I can safely say this wasn't half as bad. I hope that means we get to see him few more times.