To Rome With Love

Woody Allen is working his way through Europe. Starting with London (Match Point - 2005), then Barcelona (Vicky Cristina Barcelona - 2008) and Paris (Midnight in Paris - 2011) Allen has moved on 'To Rome With Love'.

There are four story strands. An undertaker who possesses a glorious operatic voice but only when he sings in the shower. A man who inexplicably becomes famous simply for being famous. A honeymooning groom stuck with an unknown prostitute pretending to be his bride and a young architecture student tempted by his girlfriend's girlfriend.

Set in the glorious environment of the eternal city these four stories canvass the vagaries of celebrity, fads and romance.

Reviewing the film recently, Margaret Pomeranz savaged it saying that she could barely bring herself to rate it 1 star arguing vehemently with her companion critic David Stratton who agreeing that the film was not amongst Allen's better films rated it (from memory) 3 stars.

Having seen the film now for myself I think Pomeranz's criticism was particularly harsh. I suspect Pomeranz may have been motivated by the previous week's reviews when it was Stratton who was highly critical of a movie that she favoured.

This is not one of Allen's better films, indeed it misfires as much as it hits the mark but it is not without its humorous touches especially in its second half. It is not a match for the three films mentioned above. None of the four story strands is a total success. The 'famous for being famous' strand probably works best whilst the 'student' strand could be excised in its entirety and I doubt anybody would notice.

Rome looks magnificent in the background.

★★