Review of Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) by Spangle — 28 Jul 2016

Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a film that thinks so little of its audience, it has a narrator that explains every character action and motivation to you, in order for you to be able to understand its high brow philosophizing on love and its unattainable nature.

Set in Europe, the film has a real stuffy feel and though it attempts to showcase the pretentiousness of its characters at times, the film itself winds up having this air of self-importance. Unfunny and lacking any sense of charm, the film has awful character development for a Woody Allen film, largely due to the horrendous decision to rely so much on a narrator.

The result of the narrator is a truly stunted story that turns the film into a vignette of loosely connected scenes that somehow advance some sort of plot that the audience could care less about, due to the film's unwillingness to let us in.

A misfire from Woody Allen, Vicky Cristina Barcelona is evidence that he needs to focus more on actual comedies instead of stuffy attempts at European romantic drama art films.