Review of To Rome with Love (2012) by Andrew K — 01 Oct 2012

Somewhere between his "early funny films" and more recent duds (such as Cassandra's Dream which I saw for the first and last time recently). The cast is good enough, with Jesse Eisenberg called upon to play a character with many of the Director's trademark tics. Allen himself appears, as a retired opera director, which allows him to explore what appears to be a hobby horse - modern productions of classic operas. This theme he exhausts and then some, as he does another theme about the modern proclivity for bestowing instant celebrity on people who have done nothing to deserve it. The film would have been better for far less on each theme. Presumably if you pay to stage an opera with full cast and audience, the producers insist on having more than just twenty seconds of it on the screen in the final cut.

Elsewhere, Alec Baldwin appears in a curious "chorus" role, present, but absent in a way that is not unlike parts of Manhattan in which Allen took the role himself. I cannot now see Alec Baldwin in a film without hearing the sounds of animated steam trains. Again, in this film less would have been more in terms of his appearances. The best performance in the film comes from Penelope Cruz, whose is in many ways the most honest character in the film, the one who is comfortable with who she is. What this tells us about Allen's world view I leave you to decide. Apparently he does not hold much love for undertakers or film stars. Worth a look, but don't expect too much.