Movie Review: "To Rome With Love"

"To Rome With Love": B.  I usually prefer Woody Allen movies in which he does not appear as an actor (e.g., Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) and Midnight In Paris (2011)), but relegates himself to directing only.  However, I decided to take a chance on To Rome With Love for two reasons. First, Momma Cuandito and I will be in the Eternal City next week. Second, Woody only plays a supporting role in this picture, although as the script writer he does manage to reserve some of the best one-liners for his own character, Jerry.

Jerry and his wife Phyllis (Judy Davis) are the parents of a twenty-something year old daughter, Hayley (Alison Pil), who meets Michelangelo (Flavio Parenti, a native of Rome) when she asks him for directions to the Trevi Fountain. By the time they reach their destination on foot, they have become an item. They are but one of four twosomes whose stories are rotated in and out throughout this entertaining movie.

We also have Jack (Jesse Eisenberg) and Sally (Greta Gerwig), an engaged American couple living together in Trastevere, the Greenwich Village of Rome. Things get complicated in ways you might expect when Sally invites her friend Monica (Ellen Page) to stay with them for awhile. Before Monica's arrival, Sally describes her friend to Jack as someone who exudes a sexual vibe, yet Sally thinks nothing of leaving the two of them alone. Alec Baldwin shows up on a regular basis as a detached third party who functions as Jack's conscience. Sometimes it seems only Jack can see and hear him, but in other scenes Monica converses with him as well.

Then there's a newly married couple, Antonio (Alessandro Tiberi) and Milly (Allesandra Mastronardi), two country kids who've decided to make their way to the big city. Milly is nervous about meeting her man's parents for the first time, and scoots off from their hotel room to find a hair salon. In between the time Milly leaves the hotel and the arrival of the parents, a hooker, Anna (the voluptuous Penelope Cruz), arrives at the room, offering her pre-paid services to Antonio. It seems Antonio's friends have made the arrangements. Of course before he can get rid of her, his relatives show up, so he has to pretend that Anna is Milly. The fact that Anna's dress is short, low-cut, and appears to have been painted on her makes the pretense a hard sell. Meanwhile, the real Milly is having her own over-the-top adventure on her way to the salon.

Finally there is Leopoldo (the ever funny Roberto Benigni), a married father of two little kids. He is a middle aged office worker who, for reasons unexplained to himself and the viewers, becomes an overnight celebrity. He is dogged by the paparazzi and scandal mongers who follow him wherever he goes. The instant fame is fun at first, but soon he longs for the days when he was a mere functionary.

Some mini-stories are better than others, but director Allen does not dwell with any one of them for long before hopping off to the next. Some dialogue is spoken in English, with periodic Italian accompanied by subtitles, which I did not mind at all. Woody's character reminded me of Alvy Singer, the role Allen played in his 1977 film, Annie Hall. He is neurotic in a funny way, but begrudgingly relies on his stable wife to keep him in check. He does not hit it off with his daughter's new boyfriend, and is too persistent in coaxing the boyfriend's father to pursue a career as an opera singer. By the way, the actor cast in the role of the singing father is Fabio Armiliato, an internationally famous tenor. The few scenes including him are among the movie's best.

This film was shot entirely in Rome, although it could have taken place almost anywhere. I am not rating it as highly as Vicky Christina or Midnight, but I can now understand why it lasted so long in the first run theaters. If you are not a Woody Allen fan, this movie just might convert you.