Review of To Rome with Love (2012) by Manny C — 06 Aug 2012

So does Woody Allen's latest do for the Eternal City what last year's amazing Midnight In Paris did for the City of Lights? Sadly, no. To Rome With Love doesn't have the overarching theme of regret that permeated Midnight In Paris, but it's no less a delight. For starters, there's Penelope Cruz playing a hooker doing her best, and failing, to pass herself of as the wife of a brand new groom in order to fool his uber-conservative family. Then there's the Woodman himself, starring in his first film since Scoop as a retired opera director in Rome with his wife (Judy Davis yay) to meet their daughter's (Allison Pill) Italian fiance (Flavio Parenti), whose undertaker father is actually a fantastic opera singer, but only when he's in the shower, and it's no surprise since he's played by famed tenor Fabio Armiliato. Just try not laughing when Allen tries taking the undertaker to the opera stage, complete with his shower.

Now the laughs are hit-and-miss, but Allen does manage to score some choice comic points, such as the tale involving Oscar winner Roberto Benigni as a regular guy who becomes famous for absolutely nothing until the paparazzi grow tired of him and move on to the next nothing (shades of La Dolce Vita, the definitive Rome film). The joke is thin, but has its moments.

The best vignette stars a wonderfully touching Alec Baldwin as an architect on vacation who encounters what he sees as a younger version of himself in Jesse Eisenberg. And so he advises the young man not to make the mistakes he's made, like sleeping with the best friend (Ellen Page) of the woman you really love (Greta Gerwig).

Rome links everything together, and its captured beautifully by Darius Khondji's camera, who uses it as a cinematic canvas. And this is no tourist postcard, this is a city that is vibrantly alive and lived in, the city that inspired the likes of Fellini, Rosselini and De Sica. It's a good time.