To Rome with Love

Plot: To Rome with Love has four comic vignettes set in Rome that are intercut together; there are twenty characters, with so much story that I can't describe it all here. One story is about a mortician who sings opera, but only in the shower; another about two honeymooners who come to Rome who get separated and then hook-up with others; another about a woman who puts up a friend, who then steals her boyfriend; another about a regular guy who suddenly becomes famous for being famous -- and how it affects his life.
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Review: Overall, it was a fun movie. Vignettes lend themselves to light comedy. Each of the four stories had well-developed likable characters, and the dialog is always good. The famous guy's (Roberto Benigni) segment is all in Italian with subtitles, but it is easy to follow.

Even though To Rome with Love is all for fun, the stories are intelligent and make an occasional political or societal point.

Alec Baldwin has an interesting role; he starts as a regular character in the story about the boyfriend stealer, but soon he become an on-screen advisor and conscience for the soon-to-be cheating boyfriend -- like a little angel on the shoulder to talk to.

Ellen Page played the girl hustling her friend's boyfriend, and she did a great job creating a character in just a few minutes. The script and dialog were also great.

The movie is a big commercial to visit Rome, but the photography is not super-great. Mostly the people talk about the city, and the best video are simple street scenes.   The music is old-fashioned, and the credits are especially old-fashioned.

Overall, the highlights are the dialog and the light comic fun. The downsides are that he lightness means lack of substance, but its July -- that is OK. Woody Allen gets criticized that his movies are either all the same, or that they are uneven in quality. This one isn't trying to be Annie Hall or Interiors.

Cast: Flavio Parenti, Roberto Benigni, Alison Pill, Ellen Page, Alessandro Tiberi, Judy Davis, Allessandra Mastronardi, Alec Baldwin, Carol Alt, David Pasquesi, Lynn Swanson, Woody Allen, Penelope Cruz

Written and directed by: Woody Allen


Rating:   3.0 stars is a little generous; perhaps 3-: because it was fun; because the dialog was so good; because if you see it you'll like it. 

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More: Better than Midnight in Paris, better than Whatever Works, not as good as Vicky Christina Barcelona.

Even more: Woody Allen is a master of dialog.