Review of Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) by Casper — 19 Aug 2008

Perhaps it's only flaw (and the same that beset Cassandra's Dream) is that lately Allen has a tendency to send all of his thoughts out to character's incapable of truly expressing them. In other words, on occasion, they're simply offshoot personalities of Allen's own worldview & set of expressions, resulting in dialogue that seems a little too intellectual or esteemed for some of the personalities involved.

Now, Cassandra's Dream didn't suffer from highbrow dialogue but rather that it had working class stiffs using Allen's own ideas in less educated language. Don't get me wrong, when he reigns it in as he did in his earlier work or features believable upper-class representatives, then I can totally buy it.

Here there's a few times, usually involving the straight-edged grad student where I feel the characters would be over-reaching in order to utilize such lofty language. Other than that, it's probably his strongest overall work since Husbands & Wives.

There's great cinematography, a well-balanced story (NEVER one of Allen's shortcomings) and fabulous acting all around. Go check it out and try and ignore the forced lines in the first half hour.