Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A shallow look at deep issues, 18 Jul 2009
Apart from being a fan of Woody Allen (well, his good films) I heard that this was a long-overdue 'return to form' so I got hold of this with hopes high and prepared myself to give it a five-star recommendation.
Well, it's not BAD, but overall it's a very shallow series of examinations of a variety of very deep and meaningful issues. Those topics include what we should do with our lives, how short life is and how important it is to make the most of it, and philosophies about love, adultery, marriage in a world of art, passion and creativity in general. I have now read some other reviews here, some of which touch on the absurdities of American observations on European life, but that is something that never crossed my mind while watching the film, and although I can see what some are driving at, I don't think it's really where the film falls down. It's more a case of never rising in the first place, never making me care for anyone in particular other than wish I was as lucky as the character played by Javier Bardem - or at least during that part of the film when he had two beautiful women sharing his bed. It was always difficult to imagine how it could end, and when that end did come, it was utterly limp and unimaginative; I can imagine quite a few people looking at each other as the final credits started, pulling a face and saying "Huh?"
This is a film that could have made several important points but failed to make any worth remembering, at least none that were fresh or original. The actors were attractive, as was the Spanish backdrop, but Bardem's early dark charisma faded away gradually while the two female leads never really gave the impression that they had much passion for this film, despite the fact that passion was, in theory, at its heart. Penelope Cruz added a bit of spark when she eventually appeared, but although she was welcome I now think in hindsight that she was covering up for the failures on the part of the rest of the cast to make this story special in any way. Having said that, I am rather surprised that her performance was deemed worthy of an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Good, yes, but not that good.
It's confusing really, because whatever you might think of Woody Allen (who wrote and directed this film) he has proved many times that he is a most gifted writer, so I'm scratching my head wondering how or why the script was mostly as plain vanilla as it was. There were touches of early promise but nothing was fulfilled. This is categorically NOT a return to the classic form of Woody Allen of old; it's a reasonable attempt but it feels as if Allen only wrote parts of it and for certain his heart wasn't in it. Anyone who claims this is a return to form is living in the past, just wanting another Woody Allen classic. It's a wasted opportunity in some ways but I must admit I'm struggling to think of a reason why that should be.
The Blu-Ray DVD had the barest of extras on it - just subtitle options, theatrical trailers and scene selection. Nothing else.
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1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
boooooooriiiing!, 31 Aug 2009
Rich, pretty people endlessly talking about relationships, sex, poetry, art, music and food, all played out in restaurants, kitchens, art galleries or right next to famous landmarks. So, no change from 90% of any other of Woody Allen's films from the last 30 years.
The script is probably the most pretentious and unrealistic I've heard for years. The description of the male leads poet father(who will only speak Spanish) is a corker; "He doesn't believe that a poet should pollute his words by any other tongue", and there's plenty more where that came from.
Why this got such good reviews, while Woody Allen's last two efforts (the much better than expected 'Cassandra's Dream' and 'Scoop') were rubbished, is beyond me.
Catch it on TV before you decide whether or not to buy.
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1 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Awful - Especialy The Blu-Ray, 19 Aug 2009
I'm not sure what drew me to this film, maybe the trailer, which sort of promised a fun romantic comedy set in Barcelona, or the fact it was going to be interesting, either way, I was very disappointed by this film, as I found it rather annoying that most of it was confused people just getting wound up about everything. Vicky (Rebecca Hall) is rather wooden, and thinks she knows what she wants in life, and Christina (Scarlett Johansson) is much more free-spirited, but as you can guess, doesn't know what she wants in life - oh and then there's my favourite Penélope Cruz, who's a manic depressive who, well you guessed it, doesn't know what she wants. The only thing they all have in common is they want Juan Antonio Gonzalo, well, they think they do?
I found this film to be too concerned with dialogue, rather than the issues it brings up, like the fact Christina might like both males and females, and the fact that they're living all together. It seems to be jokey about marriage; but it really doesn't concentrate on the infidelity, it just feels like an hour and a half of nothingness, except meaningless flirtation, which makes them feel they've made the wrong decision, and they're back to the drawing board.
The narrator was annoying too, why Woody felt he needed to talk over what was obvious was beyond me, and just made me feel this was a waste of my time. If it wasn't for Mrs Cruz I don't think I would have bothered.
This BD is rubbish too, LPCM 2.0 - no surround sound - and it's only in English - there's no Spanish version. Also don't expect any subtitles, except for the English ones for the hard of hearing. There's the trailer and that is your lot, Optimum are starting to do more bare bones releases lately, and this seems to be one of them. Pity, as a nice interview with Woody Allen would have made the Blu-Ray more worthwhile.
Poor beyond belief.
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