To Rome with Love

Rome must be one of the most photogenic cities in the world, no matter how you look at it or who is looking. The Rome of Fellini with all its magic corners or Pasolini's Rome with its poetic darkness. Woody Allen's Rome is pure postcard glitter. What a let down. This is Allen's weakest script so far. Seems undecided and downright lazy. The tribute to Fellini's "The White Sheik" verges on theft and the Italian actors delivering their lines in Italian look and sound as participants of a provincial amateur hour. Even Oscar winner Roberto Benigni gives a pale and tired life to a thoroughly underwritten character. Allen himself is very good as is Judy Davis as his wife. But, I wonder what was in the writer/director's mind. I believe that in Allen's filmography from best to worst, To Rome With Love will appear very near the bottom. But, let's not despair, the master is already prepping his next flick.

Although nowhere near Woody Allen's great films like Annie Hall, Manhattan, Hannah and her Sisters and Midnight in Paris, To Rome with Love is still a charming, and entertaining film. Some have called the film, Woody Allen's worst film, and I simply don't agree. (His worse film is Scoop) The whole cast works nicely and all the performances are all around great. My favorite being Judy Davis, she stole the show for me.

I found some of the scenes rushed and haphazardly constructed and some of the dialogue overwritten and under-rehearsed. The film at times, felt very lazy and a bit fake, at times. At 112 Mimutes, To Rome with Love is a good 20 minutes longer than most Woody Allen films, and it shows. The movie was overlong and a bit boring at times. There weren't enough charming and funny scenes to compensate for it's running time. Some scenes should've definitely been cut. Woody Allen's latest effort is flawed, but definitely not a bad film, as most are saying.

7/10

"To Rome with Love" is a fantastic and beautiful movie by none other than Woody Allen. All of his movies are about cute, funny and complex love stories happening at the same time in one location. In this film in particular, you have four love stories happening at the same time in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. A great cast starring Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page, Alec Baldwin, Roberto Benigni and Allen himself. Along with other good actors all do a great job together. We as the viewers who try to understand Allen's movies most of the time can see his elements repeating themselves again in this film such as: the love affairs amongst the characters, the long filming of the locations, the beauty of life shown that not everything can be achieved, how the characters are left with his/her loved ones, how all stories end with a closed ending, etc. Personally I always enjoy Allen's movies and kind of hoped this one wouldn't end so quickly, something about all the plot points during the movie were really compelling. When I saw on the page of the film the rating it got. I just couldn't understand why people can't appreciate Allen's movies nowadays? Is it that hard to enjoy a romance movie these days? In rome?

As time passes Woody Allen is able to transform himself and his movies. Don't get me wrong, it is obvious that we are seeing a Woody Allen film from the initial credits, but he still can surprise us.

We see different stories through out the film. Some show aspects of the Italian lifestyle and culture, presented from a beautiful Rome; that city that Allen wants to present to us, his Rome. But other stories present again the issues that have been important to him, those problems that for centuries have raised for humankind: love, infidelity, death, success, fame, happiness; those issues that Allen simply loves to discuss.

The cast is charming and I want to highlight a sincere Roberto Benigni; Jesse Eisenberg, that resembles perfectly the young Woody Allen; and the beautiful and talented Ellen Page, with a powerful character that makes you impossible not to fall in love with her.

I have the huge bias of been a Woody Allen fan and that is probably why I enjoyed so much this movie. It is thrilling to see him acting again. See all that neurosis again in the big screen. This movie surprises, can be as surreal as Buñuel would be and also as real as Allen is with daily problematics.

For most of the past decade Woody Allen has been revisiting old themes in new places. He writes a witty script, hires a good cameramen, has great actors flock to him because he writes great lines for them and directs the film efficiently. So we have travel vistas that he has even been putting the city's name in, like VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA, MIDNIGHT IN Paris and now the Fellini-esque TO ROME WITH LOVE.

If you get the idea that I look down on these efforts, let me say I enjoy them very much. Mr. Allen has reached an age and ability in his craft where he can do things easily and smoothly, so that the three farces that make up this anthology set in the Eternal City offer some wonderful excuses to show off the city. My favorite is the one about Roberto Benigni, an ordinary man who suddenly finds himself a celebrity upon whom the media hang. His bewilderment is a lovely, comic performance. However, if you prefer the one about the retired record producer who makes the machetunim an opera sensation in the shower or the the one about the young temptress, that's fine too.