To Rome with Love Reviews
LWOODS04
Super Reviewer
June 20, 2012
To Rome with Love was one of the most boring, messy, unineresting, long films I have seen recently. I can confidently say that I hated it. I gave it a star for the talent that was in the film. I have only liked a handful of Woody Allen's films. I think he's tallented and does unique films, but this one was pure crap. None of the characters are likable. I usually find Woody odd and a bit funny, but here he was just a mumbling annoyance. Baldwins performance made me feel like I was watching him in another commercial. It was just all so awful. It's not a film for me. It may be for you. But I doubt it.
cosmo313
Super Reviewer
January 7, 2012
Set in Rome, we get four unrelated vignettes that all involve love and relationships in some sort of way, all of them generally kind of funny, and falling under the umbrella of rom-com/magical realism.
The movie isn't really a good one per se, but it's not terrible either. I think it mostly fails to be great because Woody is old, doesn't really care much anymore, and just keeps on making movies just because. In a way, I'm okay with this, because even the worst Woody Allen is still sort of enjoyable in its own way.
All of these four stories are hit and miss, but each one did make me laugh at least once, though never in a gut busting sort of way. Even when things fell flat, I wasn't really bored, so that shows you right there that the film isn't a complete loss.
It's good seeing Woody act again, but his shtick is quite tired here, and I wouldn't have cared had he just stayed behind the camera. It's at least nice seeing Roberto Benigni and Judy Davis again, though. Jesse Eisenberg makes for a great surrogate Woody, and I liked Ellen Page as well. Seeing Penelope Cruz play a prostitute posing as a newly married man's wife was probably the highlight though.
All in all, this is lesser Allen, but it still has its merits. I don't fully recommend it, but can't think of enough reasons not to possibly check it out either.
I had heard some decidedly mixed to even rather negative things about this, but ya know what? That's not entirely accurate.
Set in Rome, we get four unrelated vignettes that all involve love and relationships in some sort of way, all of them generally kind of funny, and falling under the umbrella of rom-com/magical realism.
The movie isn't really a good one per se, but it's not terrible either. I think it mostly fails to be great because Woody is old, doesn't really care much anymore, and just keeps on making movies just because. In a way, I'm okay with this, because even the worst Woody Allen is still sort of enjoyable in its own way.
All of these four stories are hit and miss, but each one did make me laugh at least once, though never in a gut busting sort of way. Even when things fell flat, I wasn't really bored, so that shows you right there that the film isn't a complete loss.
It's good seeing Woody act again, but his shtick is quite tired here, and I wouldn't have cared had he just stayed behind the camera. It's at least nice seeing Roberto Benigni and Judy Davis again, though. Jesse Eisenberg makes for a great surrogate Woody, and I liked Ellen Page as well. Seeing Penelope Cruz play a prostitute posing as a newly married man's wife was probably the highlight though.
All in all, this is lesser Allen, but it still has its merits. I don't fully recommend it, but can't think of enough reasons not to possibly check it out either.
Emile T
Super Reviewer
February 16, 2013
This would be quite good and funny if the direction were imaginative enough to add to the charming scenes Allen's screenplay has to offer. Instead, we're left with its unfocused and mainly uninteresting plot that was only asking for a little help from the visuals.
xXGiNoBiLiPRXx
Super Reviewer
January 24, 2013
Great Film! "To Rome with Love" is a fantasy film; a comedy about people living out their fantasies. The great thing about it is that it's subtle enough that you don't recognize the fantasy element in all of the relationships until later on in the film. The whole cast works nicely and all the performances are all around great. 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.
Confidence is not to be confused with optimism because as funny as "To Rome with Love" is, it also has Allen's usual undertone of pessimism. Death is going to come sooner than you would like, but not soon enough. And even if you do get to live out your heart's fantasies, they may not lead to everything that you hoped for. This film is the comedy version of death and negativity, and can provide you with the simple joys in life. Go see it!
In Rome, the America tourist Hayley meets the local lawyer Michelangelo on the street and soon they fall in love with each other. Hayley's parents, the psychiatrist Phyllis and the retired music producer Jerry, travel to Rome to meet Michelangelo and his parents. When Jerry listens to Michelangelo's father Giancarlo singing opera in the shower, he is convinced that he is a talented opera singer. But there is a problem: Giancarlo can only sing in the shower. The couple Antonio and Milly travel to Rome to meet Antonio's relatives that belong to the high society. Milly goes to the hairdresser while Antonio waits for her in the room. Milly gets lost in Rome and the prostitute Anna mistakenly goes to Antonio's room. Out of the blue, his relatives arrive in the room and they believe Anna is Antonio's wife. Meanwhile the shy Milly meets her favorite actor Luca Salta (Antonio Albanese) and goes to his hotel room "to discuss about movies". One day, the middle-class clerk Leopoldo becomes a celebrity and is hunted by the paparazzo. A couple of days later, he is forgotten by the media. The American architect John travels to Rome with his wife and feels nostalgic since he lived in the city thirty years ago when he was a student. He meets the student of architecture Jack, who lives on the same street that John had lived, and he invited to drink a coffee at his house. Jack lives with his girlfriend Sally (Greta Gerwig) that invites her best friend Monica to stay with them in their house. But soon Jack has a crush on Monica.
A Well Cooked Italian Dish.
Great Film! "To Rome with Love" is a fantasy film; a comedy about people living out their fantasies. The great thing about it is that it's subtle enough that you don't recognize the fantasy element in all of the relationships until later on in the film. The whole cast works nicely and all the performances are all around great. 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.
Confidence is not to be confused with optimism because as funny as "To Rome with Love" is, it also has Allen's usual undertone of pessimism. Death is going to come sooner than you would like, but not soon enough. And even if you do get to live out your heart's fantasies, they may not lead to everything that you hoped for. This film is the comedy version of death and negativity, and can provide you with the simple joys in life. Go see it!
In Rome, the America tourist Hayley meets the local lawyer Michelangelo on the street and soon they fall in love with each other. Hayley's parents, the psychiatrist Phyllis and the retired music producer Jerry, travel to Rome to meet Michelangelo and his parents. When Jerry listens to Michelangelo's father Giancarlo singing opera in the shower, he is convinced that he is a talented opera singer. But there is a problem: Giancarlo can only sing in the shower. The couple Antonio and Milly travel to Rome to meet Antonio's relatives that belong to the high society. Milly goes to the hairdresser while Antonio waits for her in the room. Milly gets lost in Rome and the prostitute Anna mistakenly goes to Antonio's room. Out of the blue, his relatives arrive in the room and they believe Anna is Antonio's wife. Meanwhile the shy Milly meets her favorite actor Luca Salta (Antonio Albanese) and goes to his hotel room "to discuss about movies". One day, the middle-class clerk Leopoldo becomes a celebrity and is hunted by the paparazzo. A couple of days later, he is forgotten by the media. The American architect John travels to Rome with his wife and feels nostalgic since he lived in the city thirty years ago when he was a student. He meets the student of architecture Jack, who lives on the same street that John had lived, and he invited to drink a coffee at his house. Jack lives with his girlfriend Sally (Greta Gerwig) that invites her best friend Monica to stay with them in their house. But soon Jack has a crush on Monica.
Daniel P
Super Reviewer
May 30, 2012
At once a love letter to and parody of Italy and its films, the deft shifting between the almost too many storylines is unfortunately offset by an introductory and concluding line that land on the twee side, and the overriding whiimsy we expect from Allen is almost too similar to a lot that he's done before.
Only "almost," though; I still went home happy. When it comes to conversations and what they reveal about the characters, nobody does it like Allen. And the drive to bad choices for what seem, in the end, to be decent reasons, is what holds your attention the whole way. I found myself saying, "Wow, in Allen's world, everyone is always sleeping with everyone else," but that's not the point of the film, not exactly. The stated message is simply that everyone's got a story, which becomes hilarious in the Begnini storyline, in which the minutia of his ordinary life becomes the nightly top story on the news. The commentary is on our celebrity-obsessed society, but it's also a wink from the film-maker, telling you that maybe this is all absurd: maybe you don't need or want to be entertained by quotidian details, and maybe you could just turn the TV off, as many of us do once we reach our respective gossip tolerances.
It's not as bad as the critics say, it's just not as good as VCB or Midnight in Paris, (never mind his 70s work). The master is fading, and To Rome with Love is an untidy mish-mash many of his previous approaches, but as is pointed out in the movie - to Allen's character, which I'm sure is no coincidence - retirement may well equal death, to some. It seems particularly relevant to an artist this prolific, so I say, "Long live Woody!"
Not Allen's best, but there's not a lot wrong with this film - like Vicky Cristina Barcelona, it's sexually charged to the nines, and though there are a few jokes that fall flat - Woody Allen can't really play a character other than Woody Allen - there are a quite a few big laughs.
At once a love letter to and parody of Italy and its films, the deft shifting between the almost too many storylines is unfortunately offset by an introductory and concluding line that land on the twee side, and the overriding whiimsy we expect from Allen is almost too similar to a lot that he's done before.
Only "almost," though; I still went home happy. When it comes to conversations and what they reveal about the characters, nobody does it like Allen. And the drive to bad choices for what seem, in the end, to be decent reasons, is what holds your attention the whole way. I found myself saying, "Wow, in Allen's world, everyone is always sleeping with everyone else," but that's not the point of the film, not exactly. The stated message is simply that everyone's got a story, which becomes hilarious in the Begnini storyline, in which the minutia of his ordinary life becomes the nightly top story on the news. The commentary is on our celebrity-obsessed society, but it's also a wink from the film-maker, telling you that maybe this is all absurd: maybe you don't need or want to be entertained by quotidian details, and maybe you could just turn the TV off, as many of us do once we reach our respective gossip tolerances.
It's not as bad as the critics say, it's just not as good as VCB or Midnight in Paris, (never mind his 70s work). The master is fading, and To Rome with Love is an untidy mish-mash many of his previous approaches, but as is pointed out in the movie - to Allen's character, which I'm sure is no coincidence - retirement may well equal death, to some. It seems particularly relevant to an artist this prolific, so I say, "Long live Woody!"
Louis R
Super Reviewer
July 31, 2012
A hit and miss film producing fewer laughs, and less intelligent and emotional nuance, than any of Woody Allen's best work. The structure is interesting, and pulled off well, as is are the alternating languages, but it still feels a little bitty, a little scattershot, while Midnight In Paris was anchored in clever, strong thematic focus. The picturesque, touristic shooting of Rome is noticeable and awkward here, while Midnight In Paris pulled off its glazed, romantic view entirely, by complimenting and responding to the narrative and themes with gratifying effect. In the same way, the American upper-middle-class tourist point of view is very apparent here, without the scepticism it received in MIP. However, the film is not lacking in entertainment, featuring a solid acting return from Allen and a hilarious and touching strand with Vicky Christina Barcelona alumni Penelope Cruz. The highlight is the triple-act of Ellen Page, Jesse Eisenberg and Alec Baldwin, in what is simultaneously the most funny, cynical, honest and touching storyline- and not coincidentally the one that most recalls Woody Allen at his analytic best.
Bill D 2007
Super Reviewer
August 27, 2012
Don't get me wrong. It's not great. It doesn't warrant a Best Picture nomination. But it is a delightful gem.
There are several distinct, unrelated storylines in "Rome," giving it a multi-faceted quality. The first involves an accomplished American architect (Alec Baldwin) coming back to Rome for the first time in 30 years. In his student days, he had spent a year or so in Rome, and returning to the city for the first time has overwhelmed him with feeling.
He walks to his old neighborhood and meets an Architecture student (Jesse Eisenberg) who is doing the same thing Baldwin did, a young American having a glorious year in Rome that he'll remember forever.
Gradually, the script works in a beautiful touch of surrealism. There aren't two separate architects. They're the same person. Baldwin is having a tender visit with his 21-year-old self, reliving the brief love affair he had in Rome when he was so young. Allen never gets overly sentimental with this storyline. I found it to be a beautiful meditation on lost youth.
Eisenberg does a wonderful job with this storyline. It's the best I've ever seen from Eisenberg. Equally wonderful is Ellen Page ("Hard Candy," "Juno") as the well-intentioned but self-absorbed actress with whom the student architect has a one-week affair. One little week he remembers forever.
The second storyline involves an American couple (Allen and Judy Davis) in Rome to visit their daughter (Alison Pill), who is engaged to a young Italian man. When the in-laws meet, hilarity ensues. A crazy subplot emerges when Allen tries to convince his son-in-law's father to pursue a career in opera. In addition to providing screwball comedy, this subplot allows the film to present some of the most beautiful singing you'll hear at the movies all year.
Thirdly, there's a young Italian couple from a small town who have come to Rome to celebrate their engagement. Penelope Cruz plays a good-hearted hooker who gets mixed up with them.
Fourth: Academy Award winner Roberto Benigni plays an ordinary accountant flung into 15 minutes of fame, in a wildly surrealistic send-up of the 21st-century mania for reality TV and instant fame.
"To Rome With Love" is a must-see for anyone who loves Europe and likes his screwball comedy laced with surrealism, opera, and post-modernism. I loved it.
"To Rome with Love" is my favorite Woody Allen movie since 2008's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." It channels the spirit of Federico Fellini to bring a surrealist touch to its sumptuous celebration of Rome. Perhaps it's the imaginative and slightly post-modern surrealism that has caused mainstream critics to turn their backs on this film. Their loss.
Don't get me wrong. It's not great. It doesn't warrant a Best Picture nomination. But it is a delightful gem.
There are several distinct, unrelated storylines in "Rome," giving it a multi-faceted quality. The first involves an accomplished American architect (Alec Baldwin) coming back to Rome for the first time in 30 years. In his student days, he had spent a year or so in Rome, and returning to the city for the first time has overwhelmed him with feeling.
He walks to his old neighborhood and meets an Architecture student (Jesse Eisenberg) who is doing the same thing Baldwin did, a young American having a glorious year in Rome that he'll remember forever.
Gradually, the script works in a beautiful touch of surrealism. There aren't two separate architects. They're the same person. Baldwin is having a tender visit with his 21-year-old self, reliving the brief love affair he had in Rome when he was so young. Allen never gets overly sentimental with this storyline. I found it to be a beautiful meditation on lost youth.
Eisenberg does a wonderful job with this storyline. It's the best I've ever seen from Eisenberg. Equally wonderful is Ellen Page ("Hard Candy," "Juno") as the well-intentioned but self-absorbed actress with whom the student architect has a one-week affair. One little week he remembers forever.
The second storyline involves an American couple (Allen and Judy Davis) in Rome to visit their daughter (Alison Pill), who is engaged to a young Italian man. When the in-laws meet, hilarity ensues. A crazy subplot emerges when Allen tries to convince his son-in-law's father to pursue a career in opera. In addition to providing screwball comedy, this subplot allows the film to present some of the most beautiful singing you'll hear at the movies all year.
Thirdly, there's a young Italian couple from a small town who have come to Rome to celebrate their engagement. Penelope Cruz plays a good-hearted hooker who gets mixed up with them.
Fourth: Academy Award winner Roberto Benigni plays an ordinary accountant flung into 15 minutes of fame, in a wildly surrealistic send-up of the 21st-century mania for reality TV and instant fame.
"To Rome With Love" is a must-see for anyone who loves Europe and likes his screwball comedy laced with surrealism, opera, and post-modernism. I loved it.
Alice S
Super Reviewer
July 29, 2012
The rest of the movie is Woody's typical, below average, antic-ridden ensemble comedy.
I was really excited that Ellen Page was going to play Monica, "the siren ingenue," in Woody Allen's newest film because while she's made her career playing quirky/damaged girls, there's an irresistible quality in her that I find sexy and sensual. Instead, either Woody directed her or she acted as her usual loquacious faux-savant. Styling could have helped. Page needn't have glammed up or channeled Penelope Cruz, but it seems like every aspect of Monica's personality (whether sexy or banal) is spoken of and determined by others, not actually shown on the screen by Page's performance or costuming. Her friend, Sally, keeps saying she's so attractive, but Alec Baldwin's old-man-guide character keeps criticizing her pretentious art and literary references that I wonder why Jack even falls for her. If characters undercut other characters, there isn't much for the audience to fall for. Woody often has such a way with his actresses - whether lighting them or just getting them to smile more. I never thought much of Alison Pill, but she is radiant in a girl-next-door part just because she smiles and wears white and has more outdoor scenes in natural light.
The rest of the movie is Woody's typical, below average, antic-ridden ensemble comedy.
366weirdmovies
Super Reviewer
July 18, 2012
Four stories from Woody Allen set in Rome: a Roman citizen becomes famous for no reason, a young married couple is separated and tempted by other lovers, an architecht follows a younger version of himself through a romantic fling, and a retired opera director wants to make a mortician into a star tenor. There are no huge laughs (the opera phenom who can only sing in the shower comes the closest), but the stories are all well-written and charming enough to keep you watching. It's simple enough: if you're a Woody Allen fan you'll be satisfied, and if you're not this trifle won't change your mind.
Carlos M
Super Reviewer
June 22, 2012
A minor Woody Allen that is basically a collection of sitcom jokes stretched to the point of repetitive. Besides, even with some good moments, the film disappoints for never using Rome as a functional element, since these stories could take place anywhere.
Bathsheba Monk
Super Reviewer
June 25, 2012
Now that Woody is finished with the US, it seems he's taking a tour of Europe....lucky guy. Can't go wrong with Rome as a backdrop. Wonderful cast, of course, bit off a big chunk of story and it almost worked....but what I love about Woody Allen is that he makes me think, in this case about the fickleness of fame and the arbitrariness of success. The bit of having the amateur opera singer perform in showers on the stage was brilliant brilliant brilliant....because...don't we all do something really well when nobody is looking? The timing of when Roberto Begnini lost his completely unearned fame and then missed it was pitch perfect. Alec Balwin's character made me cringe because as an older person myself, I always want to give advice to youngins and the truth is we all have to make our own mistakes and anyway, some of the best times of my life have been my biggest mistakes so why deny youth their fun? I think with another hour he could have brought it all together in a more satisfying way, or a more obvious way, but all in all it was very beautiful thought-provoking movie.
Pedro H
Super Reviewer
July 5, 2012
To Woody Allen fans with love
For some stranger reason people have decided not to like this movie. This movie is fantastic; critics are right to say it doesn't even come close to Midnight in Paris feet, but itself as a movie is amazing. In my opinion one of the best movies of 2012.
To Rome with Love encompasses four individual stories that somehow intertwine with each other. It is the story of an architect who goes back to Rome to revisit his adolescent memories. It is the story of a ordinary Italian, Leopoldo (Roberto Benigni) who suddenly wakes up a celebrity. It is the story of a retired Opera director, Jerry (Woody Allen) who finds a way to get back in business, and the story of a young couple from the suburbs who move to Rome in hope to make it big. Each of these stories are extremely funny and have a fun pacing, with some meaning and message behind each and everyone of them.
This might be one of my favorite Woody films, and that is considering the fact I am a fan of his work. This movie for me had the perfect dose of comedy, and amazing pacing. Every story in the movie is incredibly realistic and believable, yet completely absurd. I found myself laughing every second.
Another thing that worked in this movie were the characters. I loved every character in this film, and somehow was able to relate to most of them. They all made me laugh, and at the same time rang a bell within me and like most Woody films, brought me to self reflection. The characters are believable too, and they all get an equal share of importance.
The actors in this movie are great! Alec Baldwin, Alessandra Mastronardi, Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Allen, Penà (C)lope Cruz, Ellen Page, and the rest are just incredible. I must admit that I was scared of seeing Eisenberg in this movie because he generally seems so uncomfortable in front of the cameras, but I must say that Woody found the right role for him. This leads us to the next great thing that worked: Woody Allen.
I love the way Woody writes and directs his movie. He has his unique style; whether it be the camera work, the soundtrack selection, or the characters he creates, Woody is always able to make an impression and stamp originality in his work. To me this movie is Every Thing You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask ,ameliorated. I loved him on and off screen every second of this movie. The dude knows what he is doing.
So forget what these critics are saying. This movie is fun, it is funny, and it is definitely worth checking out. I can honestly say this movie has been the funnest Summer flick for me, so if you are willing to take a risk you might love it too.
From Pedro, With Love
Anna: I am here to fulfill your dreams
To Rome With Love
To Woody Allen fans with love
For some stranger reason people have decided not to like this movie. This movie is fantastic; critics are right to say it doesn't even come close to Midnight in Paris feet, but itself as a movie is amazing. In my opinion one of the best movies of 2012.
To Rome with Love encompasses four individual stories that somehow intertwine with each other. It is the story of an architect who goes back to Rome to revisit his adolescent memories. It is the story of a ordinary Italian, Leopoldo (Roberto Benigni) who suddenly wakes up a celebrity. It is the story of a retired Opera director, Jerry (Woody Allen) who finds a way to get back in business, and the story of a young couple from the suburbs who move to Rome in hope to make it big. Each of these stories are extremely funny and have a fun pacing, with some meaning and message behind each and everyone of them.
This might be one of my favorite Woody films, and that is considering the fact I am a fan of his work. This movie for me had the perfect dose of comedy, and amazing pacing. Every story in the movie is incredibly realistic and believable, yet completely absurd. I found myself laughing every second.
Another thing that worked in this movie were the characters. I loved every character in this film, and somehow was able to relate to most of them. They all made me laugh, and at the same time rang a bell within me and like most Woody films, brought me to self reflection. The characters are believable too, and they all get an equal share of importance.
The actors in this movie are great! Alec Baldwin, Alessandra Mastronardi, Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Allen, Penà (C)lope Cruz, Ellen Page, and the rest are just incredible. I must admit that I was scared of seeing Eisenberg in this movie because he generally seems so uncomfortable in front of the cameras, but I must say that Woody found the right role for him. This leads us to the next great thing that worked: Woody Allen.
I love the way Woody writes and directs his movie. He has his unique style; whether it be the camera work, the soundtrack selection, or the characters he creates, Woody is always able to make an impression and stamp originality in his work. To me this movie is Every Thing You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask ,ameliorated. I loved him on and off screen every second of this movie. The dude knows what he is doing.
So forget what these critics are saying. This movie is fun, it is funny, and it is definitely worth checking out. I can honestly say this movie has been the funnest Summer flick for me, so if you are willing to take a risk you might love it too.
From Pedro, With Love
Anna: I am here to fulfill your dreams
hunterjt13
Super Reviewer
July 4, 2012
Woody Allen is one of my favorite filmmakers, spoiling me lately with 2011's best film, Midnight in Paris, but unfortunately I can't add this to his oeuvre of greats. For any other filmmaker it would be a solid effort though.
Because it doesn't reach for the Altman Standard, the best way to review this film is by looking at the four individual shorts. The story about the architect has some funny moments, mostly due to Ellen Page's impersonation of Christina Ricci from Anything Else, but when Alec Baldwin said "ozymandias melancholia," I doubted that he read the Shelley poem; even more to the point, there isn't a very original concept here: every character predicts doom, and lo and behold, doom happens. Is Allen saying that even when we know our mistakes, we still make them? I can imagine that theme producing an interesting film, but this isn't it. The story about shower-singing opera singer produces a funny punchline, and it's great to see Judy Davis and Allen back together again, but it takes too long and too much work to get to the end. The story about the newlyweds was altogether uninteresting despite Penelope Cruz's best effort. The one story I liked was with Roberto Benigni whose natural effervesce lends that segment a joyful exuberance. However, what really sets this story apart is that it is comedy with substance, a satire about our penchant for people being famous for being famous and the associated perils. Like Allen's best comedy, this story is thought-provoking and comedic.
Overall, the performances, except for Alec Baldwin, are very good, but it's 75% broad comedy with good visual punchlines but not much substance.
Four stories in Rome -- one about an old architect witnessing his youthful doppelganger's mistakes, one about a man who can only sing in the shower, one about a man passing off a hooker as his new bride, and one about a man who becomes famous for no discernible reason -- comprise Woody Allen's latest film.
Woody Allen is one of my favorite filmmakers, spoiling me lately with 2011's best film, Midnight in Paris, but unfortunately I can't add this to his oeuvre of greats. For any other filmmaker it would be a solid effort though.
Because it doesn't reach for the Altman Standard, the best way to review this film is by looking at the four individual shorts. The story about the architect has some funny moments, mostly due to Ellen Page's impersonation of Christina Ricci from Anything Else, but when Alec Baldwin said "ozymandias melancholia," I doubted that he read the Shelley poem; even more to the point, there isn't a very original concept here: every character predicts doom, and lo and behold, doom happens. Is Allen saying that even when we know our mistakes, we still make them? I can imagine that theme producing an interesting film, but this isn't it. The story about shower-singing opera singer produces a funny punchline, and it's great to see Judy Davis and Allen back together again, but it takes too long and too much work to get to the end. The story about the newlyweds was altogether uninteresting despite Penelope Cruz's best effort. The one story I liked was with Roberto Benigni whose natural effervesce lends that segment a joyful exuberance. However, what really sets this story apart is that it is comedy with substance, a satire about our penchant for people being famous for being famous and the associated perils. Like Allen's best comedy, this story is thought-provoking and comedic.
Overall, the performances, except for Alec Baldwin, are very good, but it's 75% broad comedy with good visual punchlines but not much substance.
JonathanHutchings
Super Reviewer
June 9, 2012
It's no secret that he has a formula. When he's on his game, that formula can plume the depths of the human psyche better than most anyone; conversely, when he's not firing on all cylinders, his blueprint is stilted, cliched, and plays like a cheap imitation of a "Woody Allen film." His formula is just that: formulaic. To Rome With Love has a few charming and humorous moments, but collectively it lacks immediacy, and stumbles upon familiar terrain both cinematically and thematically, yet it has nothing insightful to say. He's been there, he's done that. And it shows. I don't need his films to be original (I love his point of view), but I do need them to matter. I hate to say it, but this film justifiably adds fuel to his critics' fire.
There's a theory that posits the main reason Woody's post-2000 oeuvre has been so lackluster is because he has gotten lazy. He so fixates on keeping up his one-film-a-year output that he carelessly mails it in (keeping most of his actors' first takes, providing minimal direction, maintaining the same narrative skeleton, etc.). Maybe I'm in denial, but I've never put much stock into that notion (after all, Match Point, Vicky Christina Barcelona and Midnight in Paris all came out in this era); however, after catching a pre-release screening of To Rome With Love at the LAFF North last night, I couldn't help but notice that it felt like Allen was sleepwalking through it on multiple levels.
It's no secret that he has a formula. When he's on his game, that formula can plume the depths of the human psyche better than most anyone; conversely, when he's not firing on all cylinders, his blueprint is stilted, cliched, and plays like a cheap imitation of a "Woody Allen film." His formula is just that: formulaic. To Rome With Love has a few charming and humorous moments, but collectively it lacks immediacy, and stumbles upon familiar terrain both cinematically and thematically, yet it has nothing insightful to say. He's been there, he's done that. And it shows. I don't need his films to be original (I love his point of view), but I do need them to matter. I hate to say it, but this film justifiably adds fuel to his critics' fire.
Dann M
Super Reviewer
January 20, 2013
To Rome with Love is a pile of crap that proves once again how inconsistent a director Woody Allen is. Basically the film is an anthology of stories that take place in Rome, but the stories are all insipid, inane pieces of trite. The cast has a lot of talent, which includes Alec Baldwin, Penelope Cruz, Jesse Eisenberg, Alison Pill, and Ellen Page. However, the performances are as dull and uninspired as the material. Shallow and vapid, To Rome with Love could quite possibly be Woody Allen's worst film.
www.themoviewaffler.com
Super Reviewer
August 30, 2012
The movie features four storylines, all of which begin promisingly enough but after a few scenes from each you quickly realise this is not the Allen we're used to. The biggest mistake is having all four run together as it means by the halfway point (of an incredibly long two hours, epic by Allen's standards) you've lost interest in all of them.
Benigni is an average Joe who one day finds himself swarmed by paparazzi. He's become an instant star, famous for being famous, and is subjected to public scrutiny and made to answer bland questions on tacky Italian TV shows. This story has a decent punchline but the journey there consists of dull scene after dull scene of Benigni's usual irritating shtick.
The storyline featuring Allen himself is the most bearable, mostly due to his presence. He plays the father of Pill, who is marrying a young Italian man who Allen learns has an incredible singing voice but only while taking a shower. This develops into a Pythonesque over-played skit which somehow is stretched out for the entire movie. It's a three scene gag elongated to ten scenes.
The movie's handful of witty lines are divvied up between Allen and Baldwin who plays an architect dispensing advice to Eisenberg, a young student falling for Page, the pretentious actress friend of his girlfriend Gerwig. I was expecting some sort of a twist ending to this plot but it plays out to a climax so predictable you couldn't actually predict it. The worst part of this particular strand is Page, horrifically miscast as a "bombshell". Was Scarlett Johansson busy that week?
Worst of all is the fourth story-line, which sees a honeymooning young Italian couple separated, the groom having to pass off hooker Cruz as his wife while the bride finds herself in the arms of a randy actor. This plays out like an Italian version of a seventies British sitcom, devoid of any sophisticated wit or charm.
Allen keeps a drawer by his bed full of notes written on random pieces of paper which he sorts through when looking for the plot of his next film. It seems this time he found the four worst ideas but thankfully he used them all up in the one film. Up till now Allen has at worst been average but this is his first genuinely bad movie, not a bad record for over forty years of non-stop film-making. Ironically, those who usually despise Allen's films will probably be the ones who enjoy this the most. The rest of us will take comfort in knowing a Woody Allen comeback usually occurs every two years or so.
It's all too rare for a great artist to find an audience. It's even rarer for an audience to find a great artist but that's what happened last year when millions flocked to see Allen's previous film, the highly enjoyable "Midnight in Paris". How many of those cinema-goers actually enjoyed the film is debatable. I suspect many wrongly assumed by Owen Wilson's presence that they were in for a typical Hollywood rom-com (I recall watching "Melinda and Melinda" in a theater packed full of teenagers who couldn't understand why Will Ferrell wasn't making fart jokes.) Those fans of what is known as "mainstream" comedy (I know it as unoriginal, unsophisticated garbage) will likely be pleased by Allen's latest, a departure into a broader and bawdier style of humor unbecoming of the comic genius of our times.
The movie features four storylines, all of which begin promisingly enough but after a few scenes from each you quickly realise this is not the Allen we're used to. The biggest mistake is having all four run together as it means by the halfway point (of an incredibly long two hours, epic by Allen's standards) you've lost interest in all of them.
Benigni is an average Joe who one day finds himself swarmed by paparazzi. He's become an instant star, famous for being famous, and is subjected to public scrutiny and made to answer bland questions on tacky Italian TV shows. This story has a decent punchline but the journey there consists of dull scene after dull scene of Benigni's usual irritating shtick.
The storyline featuring Allen himself is the most bearable, mostly due to his presence. He plays the father of Pill, who is marrying a young Italian man who Allen learns has an incredible singing voice but only while taking a shower. This develops into a Pythonesque over-played skit which somehow is stretched out for the entire movie. It's a three scene gag elongated to ten scenes.
The movie's handful of witty lines are divvied up between Allen and Baldwin who plays an architect dispensing advice to Eisenberg, a young student falling for Page, the pretentious actress friend of his girlfriend Gerwig. I was expecting some sort of a twist ending to this plot but it plays out to a climax so predictable you couldn't actually predict it. The worst part of this particular strand is Page, horrifically miscast as a "bombshell". Was Scarlett Johansson busy that week?
Worst of all is the fourth story-line, which sees a honeymooning young Italian couple separated, the groom having to pass off hooker Cruz as his wife while the bride finds herself in the arms of a randy actor. This plays out like an Italian version of a seventies British sitcom, devoid of any sophisticated wit or charm.
Allen keeps a drawer by his bed full of notes written on random pieces of paper which he sorts through when looking for the plot of his next film. It seems this time he found the four worst ideas but thankfully he used them all up in the one film. Up till now Allen has at worst been average but this is his first genuinely bad movie, not a bad record for over forty years of non-stop film-making. Ironically, those who usually despise Allen's films will probably be the ones who enjoy this the most. The rest of us will take comfort in knowing a Woody Allen comeback usually occurs every two years or so.
Glenn G
Super Reviewer
July 10, 2012
My favorite of the bunch was watching Penelope Cruz play an Italian hooker who has to pose as a man's new wife in order to fool the in-laws. She's ballsy and fun in this role, and seems to be one of the few who realized she was taking part in Woody's version of LOVE, AMERICAN STYLE instead of something more highbrow.
The rest of her vignette is fairly bland, so I move on to the joys of seeing Woody and Judy Davis in the same frame as husband and wife. There's an energy and thrill her. Woody seems energized by Davis' bottomless reserves of talent. In my favorite moment in the film, he keeps telling someone over and over that he is NOT going to keep prodding him to become an opera singer. Unfortunately, the opera motif gets played to death until you just want a fat lady to sing to get it over with already!
Alec Baldwin and Jesse Eisenberg play older/younger selves in a fairly routine storyline, but it gets a boost when Ellen Page enters the picture as the target of Eisenberg's temptation. Usually male actors imitate Woody, but here, Ellen Page does the job quite nicely. It's refreshing to see her with all the nervous tics!
In the film's most repetitive segment, Roberto Benigni plays an ordinary man who suddenly and inexplicably becomes famous. Hounded by reporters wherever he goes, asking mundane questions about his shaving technique or what he ate for breakfast, this obvious cautionary tale just sits there until it fizzles out.
STILL, it was fun to see Rome onscreen, and I found myself laughing more than I thought. Minor Woody Allen movies can still make you feel like you've eaten a good meal, even though this one is more of the Jenny Craig variety.
Despite the fact that most of Woody Allen's films use the same template - - open with a jazz song over old-fashioned title cards, cue neurotic characters and low-key visuals, I've yet to see Woody go for a crass $$ until now. After the career-best box office success of MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, Woody has transferred some of that woozy charm to another European city to see if the formula will pay off again. I'm happy to say that he gets a 50% return on his investment, as TO ROME WITH LOVE is half of a good movie. A series of intercut vignettes about love and celebrity, it's light, breezy fun and often hilarious up to the halfway mark, where the jokes get recycled and the storylines get stuck in neutral.
My favorite of the bunch was watching Penelope Cruz play an Italian hooker who has to pose as a man's new wife in order to fool the in-laws. She's ballsy and fun in this role, and seems to be one of the few who realized she was taking part in Woody's version of LOVE, AMERICAN STYLE instead of something more highbrow.
The rest of her vignette is fairly bland, so I move on to the joys of seeing Woody and Judy Davis in the same frame as husband and wife. There's an energy and thrill her. Woody seems energized by Davis' bottomless reserves of talent. In my favorite moment in the film, he keeps telling someone over and over that he is NOT going to keep prodding him to become an opera singer. Unfortunately, the opera motif gets played to death until you just want a fat lady to sing to get it over with already!
Alec Baldwin and Jesse Eisenberg play older/younger selves in a fairly routine storyline, but it gets a boost when Ellen Page enters the picture as the target of Eisenberg's temptation. Usually male actors imitate Woody, but here, Ellen Page does the job quite nicely. It's refreshing to see her with all the nervous tics!
In the film's most repetitive segment, Roberto Benigni plays an ordinary man who suddenly and inexplicably becomes famous. Hounded by reporters wherever he goes, asking mundane questions about his shaving technique or what he ate for breakfast, this obvious cautionary tale just sits there until it fizzles out.
STILL, it was fun to see Rome onscreen, and I found myself laughing more than I thought. Minor Woody Allen movies can still make you feel like you've eaten a good meal, even though this one is more of the Jenny Craig variety.
Cameron W. Johnson
Super Reviewer
January 29, 2013
A collection of four different storylines that don't really connect, this film could have been more all over the place in its focus, but there really is only so much you can do to make a consistently comfortable anthology of this type, and as sure as sunshine, after a while, unevenness claims the film's focus and dilutes your investment, not to the degree I was fearing, but to an undeniable degree, nonetheless. Still, if nothing else is consistent, then it's, well, the usage of The Starlight Orchestra's "Amada Mia, Amore Mio" as transition music that's initially cute, but gets to be a bit annoying after a while, as well as conventionalism, which isn't so immense that the film comes out all that terribly trite, but still drives the film into quite a few formulas, both those established by other films of nature, and those established by other Woody Allen films, particularly Allen's other filler flicks. Tropes trail this film's storytelling, never to catch their prey so firmly that the final product comes out startlingly generic, but still catch up time and again to soften plot's impact, which was never to be too strong, as no branch from this tree of tales is all that meaty, boasting superficiality that gives you a chance to further meditate upon this film's missteps, and is made all the worse by exposition issues with each subplot that further loosen your full grip on this film's stories and characters. The film doesn't take too much time to absorb the full range of its characterization, - which shouldn't be too deep, seeing as how there's not much meat to any of this film's stories, but stands to associate you a bit more with this film's plot elements - but certainly makes room for overlong dialogue pieces that may be clever and all, seeing as how, come on, they're the fruits of writing efforts by Woody Allen, but get to be near-exhaustingly excessive, to the point of blanding things up, or rather, supplementing already fairly well-established blandness. Whether it be because of the occasional dry spell or simply Woody Allen's putting only so much effort into compensating for this film's story thinness, the film slows down more than it should, being rarely, if ever dull, but limp enough in kick for you to progressively grow more and more aware of this film's being, well, kind of aimless. The stories' conclusions prove to be about as underwhelming, so I'm not asking that the build-up to this film's ending be booming, but the road to underwhelming finales wanders along with limited direction, limited evenness and altogether limited meat, until you are ultimately left with a final product that is, on the whole, underwhelming. Still, just because the road that is this film is bumpy, that doesn't mean that you can't still enjoy yourself, because as underwhelming as this film is, it entertains adequately, catching your attention with quite a bit of charm, or at least a reasonable bit of handsomeness.
Relatively fresh off of the set of Woody Allen's last and certainly superior European opus, "Midnight in Paris", cinematography Darius Khondji is called in to deliver on more fine photographic touches that help in bringing Woody Allen's somewhat distinct style to life, and does just that, bringing handsomely warm coloring and lighting, while playing with scope in a unique fashion that comfortably focuses on the center of set pieces, while giving you a chance to take in the film's environment. Khondji's clever photographic touches firmly remind you that environment drives this film as much as characters, and that is certainly a good thing, especially when you take into consideration that the envionment we're talking about here is Rome, Italy, y'all, a famously fine testament to the beauty of European culture, and one that is explored in this film very well by Woody Allen's direction, which presents Rome's dynamic color elegantly and charmingly, to where most every location catches your aesthetic eye and adds to the liveliness of this film's atmosphere. Aesthetically, this film is undeniably pretty strong, being not necessarily a lavish masterpiece of immersive locale exploration, but almost as much, if not just as much of a handsomely stylish celebration of European culture as "Midnight in Paris", a film that, in most every other way, outdoes this film. The film doesn't exactly make for the most satisfying follow-up to Allen's acclaimed previous effort, which I actually wasn't too terribly crazy about, but found to be genuinely rewarding, as opposed to this film, which is too messy for its own good, though not so much so that it's hard to deny that this film boasts quite a bit of color, even in the story structuring departments, because as thin, familiar and all around messily handled as each one of these stories are, they are, at least conceptually, adequately fun, and brought to life reasonably well by what Allen does do right, at least as screenwriter. Sure, this film sometimes goes a bit too far - to a somewhat farfetched point - with its wit, though not as much as certain pieces of satire and exaggerated character behavior, but come on, we're still talking about Woody Allen, whose script for this film is anything but considerably comfortable, but still delivers on quite a bit of clever dialogue and amusing humor that soften the blow of the film's excessive talkativeness through liveliness, while, albeit a bit too thin, but nevertheless colorful characterization does a decent job of drawing charm from this film's stories and characters, who are further brought to life by a very charismatic cast. Sure, this film doesn't quite have the strong acting ability that was found in some members of the cast of "Midnight in Paris", which, even then, was still too light to provide all that much acting material (If he had more than one scene, Adrien Brody would have most likely gotten my pick for best supporting actor of 2011, he was so awesome in his Dalí-cious rhinocery), but this film's hefty cast of charmers do what they do best: charm, and whether it be Woody Allen himself, making a very enjoyable acting comeback, or, well, anyone else, from Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page and Alec Baldwin, to the unevenly used Penélope Cruz, everyone, to one degree or another, sells you on his or her character charmingly. There are so many flaws to this film, and it is too thin to make up for its mistakes, but regardless of this, there are still a fair deal of strengths, and enough of them to make the final product, if nothing else, reasonably entertaining, in spite of its shortcomings.
Nel complesso, focal unevenness and conventionalism at least allow you to meditate upon this film's stories' being a bit too thin for their own good, with enough underdevelopment, dragging and bland aimlessness to keep you from getting too invested, and make an underwhelming final product, though not too weak of one, because with all of its unfortunate shortcomings, this film accels aesthetically, with fine cinematography that compliments lovely locations, while delivering on enough clever dialogue and characterization - brought to life by across-the-board charismatic performances within this film's colorful cast of talents - to form the undeniable charm and reasonable entertainment value that makes "To Rome with Love" an enjoyable anthological opus, underwhelming though, it may be.
2.5/5 - Fair
It's a star-studded rom-com with various subplots that, well, just end up turning into a mess, so I guess this is pretty much Woody Allen's Garry Marshall anthology film, or at least evidence that Garry Marshall is making so much progress in his effort to be the other Woody Allen, with a fair couple of twists, that he took from this film's kind of story structure idea two years before Allen even explored it. No, this film isn't entirely like "Valentine's Day" or something like that, as sure as Marshall's and Allen's other films stand to a parallel a bit more, but make no mistake, if one of them doesn't die, then it's only a matter of time before Marshall and Allen just start ripping each other off, because they're both New Yorkers, with one being Jewish and another being Italian, and the distinguishing line between New York Jew and New York Italian getting to be thinner and thinner with, well, each new Garry Marshall or Woody Allen film. At the very least, this film does a number on the line in question, because Allen has just gone ahead and hopped his Jewish self on over to Italy from France as he continues his conquest of Europe. Look out, Germans, because Allen is so ready to make his big Jewish revenge epic (It's going to be so weird, but so awesome) that he appears to be slam-banging passion projects into messy anthologies like this one. No, people, this film isn't quite as sloppy as they said, but seriously, the only thing more confusing than this film's anthological plot structure is Roger Ebert's description of this film as something called magical realist (What magic?)..., and, of course, the differences between New York Jews and New York Italians. This film certainly does help with the Jew/Italian confusion, because we're looking at Jesse Eisen[u]berg[/u] and Woody Allen showing up in Italy, probaby trying to convert them into New Yorkers, and just for good measure, Allen tossed in Penélope Cruz, in all of her Spanish glory, as an Italian, just to further confuse you. Ah, it's all too much for my ignorant American brain ("You mean Alabamian brain"; shut up, yankees!), but hey, at least it all makes for a decent film, even if this decent film goes held back by more than a few sloppy factors.
A collection of four different storylines that don't really connect, this film could have been more all over the place in its focus, but there really is only so much you can do to make a consistently comfortable anthology of this type, and as sure as sunshine, after a while, unevenness claims the film's focus and dilutes your investment, not to the degree I was fearing, but to an undeniable degree, nonetheless. Still, if nothing else is consistent, then it's, well, the usage of The Starlight Orchestra's "Amada Mia, Amore Mio" as transition music that's initially cute, but gets to be a bit annoying after a while, as well as conventionalism, which isn't so immense that the film comes out all that terribly trite, but still drives the film into quite a few formulas, both those established by other films of nature, and those established by other Woody Allen films, particularly Allen's other filler flicks. Tropes trail this film's storytelling, never to catch their prey so firmly that the final product comes out startlingly generic, but still catch up time and again to soften plot's impact, which was never to be too strong, as no branch from this tree of tales is all that meaty, boasting superficiality that gives you a chance to further meditate upon this film's missteps, and is made all the worse by exposition issues with each subplot that further loosen your full grip on this film's stories and characters. The film doesn't take too much time to absorb the full range of its characterization, - which shouldn't be too deep, seeing as how there's not much meat to any of this film's stories, but stands to associate you a bit more with this film's plot elements - but certainly makes room for overlong dialogue pieces that may be clever and all, seeing as how, come on, they're the fruits of writing efforts by Woody Allen, but get to be near-exhaustingly excessive, to the point of blanding things up, or rather, supplementing already fairly well-established blandness. Whether it be because of the occasional dry spell or simply Woody Allen's putting only so much effort into compensating for this film's story thinness, the film slows down more than it should, being rarely, if ever dull, but limp enough in kick for you to progressively grow more and more aware of this film's being, well, kind of aimless. The stories' conclusions prove to be about as underwhelming, so I'm not asking that the build-up to this film's ending be booming, but the road to underwhelming finales wanders along with limited direction, limited evenness and altogether limited meat, until you are ultimately left with a final product that is, on the whole, underwhelming. Still, just because the road that is this film is bumpy, that doesn't mean that you can't still enjoy yourself, because as underwhelming as this film is, it entertains adequately, catching your attention with quite a bit of charm, or at least a reasonable bit of handsomeness.
Relatively fresh off of the set of Woody Allen's last and certainly superior European opus, "Midnight in Paris", cinematography Darius Khondji is called in to deliver on more fine photographic touches that help in bringing Woody Allen's somewhat distinct style to life, and does just that, bringing handsomely warm coloring and lighting, while playing with scope in a unique fashion that comfortably focuses on the center of set pieces, while giving you a chance to take in the film's environment. Khondji's clever photographic touches firmly remind you that environment drives this film as much as characters, and that is certainly a good thing, especially when you take into consideration that the envionment we're talking about here is Rome, Italy, y'all, a famously fine testament to the beauty of European culture, and one that is explored in this film very well by Woody Allen's direction, which presents Rome's dynamic color elegantly and charmingly, to where most every location catches your aesthetic eye and adds to the liveliness of this film's atmosphere. Aesthetically, this film is undeniably pretty strong, being not necessarily a lavish masterpiece of immersive locale exploration, but almost as much, if not just as much of a handsomely stylish celebration of European culture as "Midnight in Paris", a film that, in most every other way, outdoes this film. The film doesn't exactly make for the most satisfying follow-up to Allen's acclaimed previous effort, which I actually wasn't too terribly crazy about, but found to be genuinely rewarding, as opposed to this film, which is too messy for its own good, though not so much so that it's hard to deny that this film boasts quite a bit of color, even in the story structuring departments, because as thin, familiar and all around messily handled as each one of these stories are, they are, at least conceptually, adequately fun, and brought to life reasonably well by what Allen does do right, at least as screenwriter. Sure, this film sometimes goes a bit too far - to a somewhat farfetched point - with its wit, though not as much as certain pieces of satire and exaggerated character behavior, but come on, we're still talking about Woody Allen, whose script for this film is anything but considerably comfortable, but still delivers on quite a bit of clever dialogue and amusing humor that soften the blow of the film's excessive talkativeness through liveliness, while, albeit a bit too thin, but nevertheless colorful characterization does a decent job of drawing charm from this film's stories and characters, who are further brought to life by a very charismatic cast. Sure, this film doesn't quite have the strong acting ability that was found in some members of the cast of "Midnight in Paris", which, even then, was still too light to provide all that much acting material (If he had more than one scene, Adrien Brody would have most likely gotten my pick for best supporting actor of 2011, he was so awesome in his Dalí-cious rhinocery), but this film's hefty cast of charmers do what they do best: charm, and whether it be Woody Allen himself, making a very enjoyable acting comeback, or, well, anyone else, from Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page and Alec Baldwin, to the unevenly used Penélope Cruz, everyone, to one degree or another, sells you on his or her character charmingly. There are so many flaws to this film, and it is too thin to make up for its mistakes, but regardless of this, there are still a fair deal of strengths, and enough of them to make the final product, if nothing else, reasonably entertaining, in spite of its shortcomings.
Nel complesso, focal unevenness and conventionalism at least allow you to meditate upon this film's stories' being a bit too thin for their own good, with enough underdevelopment, dragging and bland aimlessness to keep you from getting too invested, and make an underwhelming final product, though not too weak of one, because with all of its unfortunate shortcomings, this film accels aesthetically, with fine cinematography that compliments lovely locations, while delivering on enough clever dialogue and characterization - brought to life by across-the-board charismatic performances within this film's colorful cast of talents - to form the undeniable charm and reasonable entertainment value that makes "To Rome with Love" an enjoyable anthological opus, underwhelming though, it may be.
2.5/5 - Fair
