Review of You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010) by Sergio H — 24 Aug 2012

Known for being one of Woody Allen's "frothy" comedies, "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger" has been unfairly labeled as being one of his lesser works-- but in my case, I felt this film is one of the best he's made in the 2000's, a decade where there's been quite a few misses.

Is this his best movie? No. But it shows that ensemble comedies can be a lot of fun. The film connects interweaving story-lines, all involving marital trouble, mid-life crisis, and extramarital affairs, but Allen takes all of these seemingly dramatic (good for soap operas) topics and instead makes them quite amusing.

Never quite funny, but consistently charming. There isn't much to boast about plot wise, but with an excellent ensemble cast playing interesting characters, and a screenplay that often creates crackling comic situations and dialogue, there isn't a dull moment in the whole film.

Not all of the characters are necessarily lovable (Naomi Watts' "Sally" anyone?), but the fun ones, such as Lucy Punch's low-brow, cockney "Charmaine" or Gemma Jones' role as Sally's ever needing mother, make many bits of the film simply delicious.

Allen directs every scene with ease (he even let the actors improvise quite a bit of dialogue, according to 2011's "Woody Allen: A Documentary"), and it shows that the cast is having a good time.

"You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger" isn't Allen's best work, but its reputation as being "forgettable" or "sporadically amusing" is off. The film features one of the director's sharpest screenplay's in years, and the cast is simply irresistible.