You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010)
Average Rating: 5.4/10
Reviews Counted: 128
Fresh: 58 | Rotten: 70
It's sporadically amusing, and typically well-cast, but You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger isn't one of Woody Allen's more inspired late-period efforts.
Average Rating: 5.6/10
Critic Reviews: 34
Fresh: 12 | Rotten: 22
It's sporadically amusing, and typically well-cast, but You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger isn't one of Woody Allen's more inspired late-period efforts.
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Average Rating: 2.9/5
User Ratings: 18,098
My Rating
Movie Info
Two couples find their lives turned upside down by their unfulfilled longings in this ensemble comedy from director Woody Allen. Alfie (Anthony Hopkins) and Helena (Gemma Jones) have been married for years. They have a grown-up daughter named Sally (Naomi Watts), who is married to a successful novelist named Roy (Josh Brolin), but finds the future of her marriage in jeopardy after falling for Greg (Antonio Banderas), the dapper owner of a prominent art gallery. Meanwhile, as Roy develops a
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Cast
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Antonio Banderas
Greg Clemente -
Josh Brolin
Roy -
Anthony Hopkins
Alfie, Alfie Shepridge -
Freida Pinto
Dia -
Naomi Watts
Sally -
Lucy Punch
Charmaine -
Gemma Jones
Helena -
Jim Piddock
Peter -
Alex MacQueen
Malcolm Dodds -
Pauline Collins
Cristal -
Anna Friel
Iris -
Celia Imrie
Enid, Enid Wicklow -
Ewen Bremner
Henry Strangler -
Fenella Woolgar
Helen -
Neil Jackson
Alan -
Roger Ashton-Griffiths
Jonathan -
Theo James
Ray -
Christopher Fulford
Ray's Friend -
Johnny Harris
Ray's Friend -
Anupam Kher
Dia's Father -
Meera Syal
Dia's Mother -
Joanna David
Alan's Mother -
Geoffrey Hutchings
Alan's Father -
Ellyn Long
Alan's Sister -
Shaheen Khan
Dia's Aunt -
Kelly Harrison
Personal Trainer -
Eleanor Gecks
Rollerblading Friend -
Christian McKay
Poker Friend -
Philip Glenister
Poker Friend -
Jonathan Ryland
Poker Friend -
Lynda Baron
Alfie's Date -
Pearce Quigley
Poker Friend -
Robert Portal
Jewelry Shop Salesman -
Zak Orth
Narrator -
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All Critics (128) | Top Critics (34) | Fresh (59) | Rotten (71) | DVD (7)
There's plenty of ambiguous intellectual heft lurking behind the curtain of mediocrity - so it's a pity it feels like it was dashed off in a few hours one afternoon.
Top CriticThe talented cast fails to gel into a dynamic ensemble: You just see actors going through familiar paces.
Woody Allen cranks out another formulaic interweave of romantic crushes, with old jazz on the soundtrack to supply some artificial gaiety.
Classic Woody -- an ensemble cast of brilliant actors, a timeless story that could be set virtually anywhere and crisp writing and direction that neither lollygags or rushes.
Woody Allen may still be funny, but he's sure not much fun anymore.
It's a highbrow romantic farce, without the laughs.
Woody at his weakest.
It's one of Allen's lesser films yet, as is so often the case with his B-material, it still features terrific performances...and a cluster of truth-nailing scenes that are better than what you typically find in major releases.
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger is the amnesiac relative of Allen's body of work. It's wearing the fleshy mask of all that you love; but conducts itself with an abrasive and frightened detachment.
Allen's mixed experiences with London stand in sharp contrast with his love affair with the French capital (the setting for last year's return to form, Midnight in Paris).
Like a second hand clothes shop, it is comfortable rather than exciting, predictable rather than refreshing, even though it boasts a great cast who believe in their master, Woody Allen
It may not be Allen's best work, but this flutter and change of hearts is easy to watch and enjoy as wishes and dreams play their tug of war
The cast is the main draw here, but it's also the movie's biggest problem. Hopkins and Jones are excellent, and a greater focus on that couple might well have resulted in a much better film.
How many times do you want to watch the same Woody Allen movie? What's your tolerance threshold for repeat visits back to his couch?
Maybe the next one will be a return to form for the living legend, and hey, at the rate Allen is churning them out, one of them has to be good, right?
Elaborately plotted, perfunctorily directed, unevenly acted and short on verbal wit.
Another wretched Woody Allen release gives yet another round of Hollywood actors the chance to tick him off their legends-to-work-with lists without giving us much to enjoy in the process...
Allen has said he makes films as they offer him a distraction, and he has created just that: An enjoyable but instantly forgettable distraction.
This is no Manhattan or Annie Hall, and while it's true Woody Allen isn't as good as he used to be, neither is anyone else.
The distinguished actors are as strong as you would expect, the narrative structure is well-crafted, and there's something curiously bracing about Allen's misanthropy.
A narrator alerts us at the outset that this tale is (to quote Macbeth) "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing". I suppose we should be thankful for the warning.
You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger is a typically wry, rueful ensemble piece in which love makes fools of everyone.
It's interesting and worthwhile, with creative vitamins that are absent in so much of what fills the cinemas.
Frothy but uninvolving. Again.
Audience Reviews for You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Alfie: The dead are the stiffest competition. No pun intended.
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- Helena: The dead are the stiffest competition. No pun intended.
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- Roy: You inspire me.
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- Sally: There is no such thing as predicting the future!
Discussion Forum
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Latest News on You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
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September 14, 2010:
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Foreign Titles
- Ich sehe den Mann deiner Träume (DE)
- Vous allez rencontrer un bel et sombre inconnu (FR)
