Woody Allen, still fizzling out

Rating: 6/10 (22 January 2006)

Admittedly, I had high hopes for this film after it rose to Allen's third ranking effort on IMDb's ratings. But ultimately though, I don't think this film is all that good. Like the rest of his later films the characters are flat and unappealing. For the first half of the movie we seem to just drift through the life of Chris seeing random episodes at a very ambiguous pace.
I think Allen has always done this in his films, but in his great one's he has amazing character dynamic that makes them fun to watch. There was none of that here. And I also regret saying this, but, Scarlett Johansson cannot act. And I can't say much for Rhys-Meyers. I feel their awkward and off-key deliveries voided the movie of any graspable feelings. I could tell both were acting and so I couldn't figure out what kind of people the characters in the story actually were.
I must give Allen credit for this fact: He has no other film like this. He definitely has explored to territory here in terms of the way he tells a story. The film has a seriousness I have't seen since Interiors, but it still can't even be compared to that. Though I felt Bergman was strongly echoed in this movie. I appreciate his ability after making a string of duplicates since the turn of the century to re-invent himself, I just wish the story would have been more powerful.