... While Rome Burns

Last year, acclaimed director Woody Allen released his most successful and arguably best film in years in Midnight in Paris. The romantic comedy, which saw Owen Wilson's young artist travel back in time to what he considered the best creative moments of the city he loved, was an astounding piece of film making. I didn't think it was one of the BEST movies that came out last year, but it IS one of the few from 2011 that I saw twice in the theater, and it won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, while Allen and his movie were respectively nominated for Best Director and Best Picture. Midnight in Paris was simply beautiful, and there was no doubt that the next step by Allen would either barely live up to that high standard, or fail miserably in comparison.

Somehow, To Rome with Love manages to evade being totally eclipsed by its predecessor, but naturally it cannot stand up to the wonder that was Midnight. The story takes place in four vignettes, depicting both residents and visitors to Rome and their stories. In one, Jerry (Allen, in his first acting role since 2006's Scoop) and Phyllis (Judy Davis) visit their daughter (Alison Pill) and her fiance Michelangelo (Flavio Parenti). Jerry, a retired classical music composer, discovers that Michelangelo's blue collar father (Italian tenor Fabio Armiliato) has a natural operatic voice, and wants to help the mortician become famous. In the second, newlyweds Antonio (Alessandro Tiberi) and Milly (Alessandra Mastronardi) are in the city for the first time, where Antonio is hoping to impress his successful family and get a job in the family business. But Milly gets lost in Rome and Antonio must try to pass off a prostitute who mistakenly showed up at his room (Penelope Cruz) as Milly. In the third, John (Alec Baldwin) is revisiting the city he lived in when he was younger. He runs into aspiring architect Jack (Jesse Eisenberg), who lives with his student girlfriend Sally (Greta Gerwig). Sally's best friend and aspiring actress Monica (Ellen Page) arrives to stay with her friend for a while, and tries to seduce Jack along the way. Finally, Leopoldo (Roberto Benigni) is a desk-bound clerk whose life is turned upside down one day as he (for reasons unknown) becomes an overnight celebrity.

Yes, he's back and looking better than ever.

While To Rome with Love contains some of the more fantastical elements of Midnight in Paris, and is of course told in Allen's signature voice, but that's precisely where any comparisons come to an end. Rome is Allen's third movie in five years (the first two being Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Midnight) that focuses on a famous and beautiful European city. Unlike those films, Allen only sporadically captures the essence of the city in question here. While every shot in Midnight in Paris and many in Barcelona evoked wonder and awe purely in the visuals, there is little of that ability shown in Rome. Sure, Allen manages to get some lovely shots of the city through his lens, but compared to the constant "Wow" factor that he had accomplished previously, what we see is somewhat disappointing.

Alec's still got "it".

There are also major hiccups with the stories themselves, a shocker considering how much thought Allen usually puts into his written work. Both the newlywed and celebrity vignettes pale in comparison to their contemporaries. Benigni's piece, in particular, feels totally out of place, simultaneously railing against an establishment of unearned celebrity while acknowledging that, still, it feels good to be recognized. Despite Benigni's great work, the theme smacks a bit too forcefully, and the piece feels unfinished and unpolished. Cruz also is the best part of her vignette, as both Antonio and Milly are too stupid and uninteresting to fully get behind. Meanwhile, showing everyone how it is done, Cruz blows everyone she interacts with out of the water, a force of nature that I wish had been granted a better tale. While the other vignettes are not perfect, they do have plenty more to interest the viewer, from Armiliato's rise as an opera star to Jack and Monica's flirtations to just about everything Alec Baldwin. Allen's dialogue is at times razor sharp, reminding you why he has remained so popular for his entire career.

Say it with me now: "Rawr."

Sadly, these few positives are not enough to make for a great movie. The film feels rushed at points, and not just due to the filming pace. Allen's themes of celebrity and infidelity are nothing new, and in fact are simply rehashed from his previous works. While there are plenty of laughs, they are unevenly dispersed among the ensemble, with some character getting next to nothing for their efforts. Allen also seems to have set a record for characters based on aspects of himself (five, including Allen), and while he manages to create some unique female characters, his inability to make a man that is not himself stands out. And the acting itself is not much better, with only Baldwin, Benigni, Cruz and the surprising Armiliato doing better than their scripts would dictate. Allen himself stammers his dialogue even more than usual, making you wonder which of his takes did NOT make the final cut. And his was still one of the less dry performances in the entire film. All this speaks to lazy writing, and drop Rome from the underrated piece it could have been to the undeserving theatrical release it has become.

This is literally the best the film has to offer... and it's damned good.

This really can't be surprising. Woody Allen hasn't hidden the fact that he hates the film's title, which he only settled on because previous names Bop Decameron and Nero Fiddles were deemed too confusing by many people. How can we be expected to like a film when it's creator is not happy with an aspect of it? Still, there is a bit to appreciate about To Rome with Love, but if we're being honest with ourselves then it's just more burden than it's worth. This is a title that has certainly benefited from the weak summer schedule, and as a result it may get more attention than it really deserves come award season. If you REALLY can't wait to get your Woody fix, then you're going to go see this no matter what I say. But if that's the case then you already OWN this movie. It's already on your DVD shelf, if under a different title. You'd be better off re-watching the superior Midnight in Paris than seeing this new film on the big screen, so only die-hard Allen fans need apply.

"What do you mean, 'I'm the weakest link?'"

Stroke of Midnight

FINALLY.

After my regular theater conspired against me seeing Midnight in Paris last week, I used my recently-gained time off to go out of my way to rectify that particular situation. Once again my destination was the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, Massachusetts, a mere twenty-five minute walk from my apartment. Because it doesn't play the blockbusters, it's not my usual film-going destination, but if I want to see an indie release and the big boys can't deliver, Coolidge hooks me up. I honestly didn't know going in that it would be worth it, however. I'm not so much a fan of Woody Allen's directing these days. While his early works are among the most heralded films in Hollywood, more recent releases have hardly made splashes, with even the well-regarded Vicky Cristina Barcelona over-hyped save for the stellar acting by Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz and the beautiful Spanish setting. Even when his films have been critically acclaimed, they often don't attract nearly the attention from audiences that most Hall-of-Famers pick up. Sure, some of them make money, but when you consider that he puts out at least one movie a year, it's shocking how little overall attention his career actually gets. Part of that has to do with his public persona. I'm sorry, but there was no way the whole "breaking up with Mia Farrow and then marrying her adopted daughter" was ever going to take on a positive spin. Actors still seem to want to work with him, which is positive at least (but then again, some also want to work with a convicted child rapist, so there's your counterpoint); still, the idea of a "Woody Allen" picture can hardly be appealing these days since his name neither guarantees success nor publicity. But enough about box office grosses and paparazzi politics; Midnight has had almost no ill spoken of it, hence my desire to catch this before it completely slips my mind and I have to scrounge for it in three months on DVD.

It's gonna be a long night

Following her parents on a business trip to the capital of France, successful screenwriter Gil Pender (Owen Wilson) travels along with his fiance Inez (Rachel McAdams) to what he considers the greatest city on the planet. Wishing to avoid interacting with Inez's pompous friend Paul (Michael Sheen), Gil wanders the streets of Paris alone until he hinds himself lost. When the midnight clock strikes, he finds himself magically transported back in time to the 1920's, what he considers Paris' greatest era. Gil interacts with the famous artists who frequented the great city during that time, and the more often he visits the past, the less he wants to remain in the present, where he feels unwanted and under-appreciated by the people around him.

"Would you like a little more pretentious attitude with your Cabernet?"

The trailer for Midnight in Paris is a good example of one that doesn't do the parent product justice. While in the two minutes you're given to decide whether you want to see the film, Midnight comes off as unfunny, dull, confusing and perhaps a bit trite, certainly not the epitome of entertainment that the critics' circle would have you believe. What actually comes out is shockingly fun; not only is the dialogue clever and the story sound, but Allen really lets you see why he considers Paris to be such an amazing city. Many camera shots are beautifully realized, either allowing you to wonder at  the city's beautiful skyline or marvel at the maze of its enclosed streets. Allen doesn't let you get the idea that Paris is anything less than a MAGICAL city, and that means the human drama centering around the location's charismatic aura feel more honest and natural, not unlike Vicky Cristina Barcelona's love affair with Spain.

Yes, that's Allison Pill. Very different from her Scott Pilgrim role

One of the best aspects of Midnight is actually meeting the many writers and artists who Gil is inspired by on the big screen. From F. Scott and Zelda Firzgerald (Tom Hiddleston and Allison Pill), Gertrude Stein (Kathy Bates), Ernest Hemingway (Corey Stall) and Cole Porter (Yves Heck), Gil is at first terrified of the implications that he has become trapped in the past, but eventually grows comfortable as he discovers that he is where he wanted to be all along. He's reliving a golden period in Paris' history, and we get to see the combined fruits of that labor. It helps that the actors convincingly portray the more characterized of these in the few scenes in which they appear. Though they may not be the most important part of Midnight, they are still an entertaining and charming element, crucial to the success of the picture.

Dammit, now I want to be there NOW

The acting present here is also better than you might initially think. I can't remember the last time I've been excited to see Owen Wilson in ANYTHING (just that it's been a LONG time...), but it's little surprise that he can take on Allen's written dialogue and come out on top. Though it would be easy to dismiss Owen as a Woody Allen knockoff, he really does seem to make the role his own, and not come off as just a cheap copycat. Marion Cotillard is wonderful as Adriana, a 20's Parisian whom Gil falls for and is also in love with the French capital. It's not the strongest Cotillard role I've ever seen, but she still manages to exude the same charm that has powered her Hollywood career. McAdams and Sheen are good in their roles, though both are essentially portrayed as "the bad guy" and are shown having no redeeming qualities. It's one thing for Sheen, whose character Gil can't stand due to his pompous nature. But one of the themes Midnight introduces is the idea that someone can be in love with two women at once, and while it's easy to see our intrepid explorer falling for Adriana, it's equally difficult to see him having fallen in love with Inez. There's no reason given for Gil to fight for Inez, a seemingly strange omission when that theme is so obviously struck.The coup that casting directors pulled off was hiring former model and singer Carla Bruni to play a small role. I don't know how they managed to secure President Nicolas Sarkozy's wife for the part, but the gorgeous Bruni does a good job, even if her involvement in the film itself is more than a bit surprising.

Bruni can read books to be any day

Spending my afternoon seeing Midnight in Paris ended up being much more entertaining than I could have imagined, as the storytelling, acting, and surprising humor kept me intrigued and attentive throughout the entire film's run. Sure, it's a bit fantastical and at times a bit to-the-point (especially during the present day scenes), and some scenes are slightly out of context with the rest of the story, but I honestly never expected in this day and age to love a film featuring BOTH Allen and Wilson. Honest and charming, it falls in at #8 for 2011. For Allen, Midnight in Paris might be his best work in years, or at least his most deservedly attended. After all, far too many of his works have fallen by the wayside, never to be recovered. Does anyone out there even REMEMBER Cassandra's Dream? Or Scoop? Melinda and Melinda, anyone? If you do go ahead and give yourself a gold star, but I guarantee you most people DON'T. That's the real tragedy of Allen's career; in the decades to come, much of his work will likely fade into obscurity, while James Cameron's Avatar will sadly be remembered for generations to come.