Review of You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010) by Brian C — 22 Mar 2011

3: It's definitely a Woody Allen film, and happily, for me at least, it's much better than his Shouts & Murmurs columns. There's no mistaking his signature farcical, sophisticated, and often cynical tone, which is on full display here.

The cast is spectacular, as one came to expect from Allen films long ago. The story is urbane, hip, modern, sophisticated, and a bit on the existential side. I will admit that many of his pictures seem about the same things and with characters that are simply slightly altered versions of earlier incarnations, but they are still unique enough to be of interest.

His films certainly don't shy away from the big questions, but they also embrace the minutiae of life, at least of life for the privileged classes. I don't think I'd want to see an Allen film about something that he didn't know; I doubt he's ever had a character in a film he didn't recognize from his own life or that he hadn't used parts of himself to help define and construct.

The ending of this is hilarious, as are more than a few lines and scenes: basically nothing is resolved in any way, shape, or form. I'd say this is both a commentary on life and topics under discussion - namely desire, happiness, and death - which are perpetually in flux and never resolved, as well as on the Hollywood film industry as a whole.

It's fairly rare to see films this open ended and I'd say he left it this jarring in order to provide just the shock it delivers. I guess I'm being generous with a 3, but I did find it to a refreshing change from the usual fare.

Allen is quite skilled at making ponderous and serious topics seem light, airy, and entertaining.