Disappointed

Rating: Null/10 (28 January 2006)

Was I the only person who was disappointed in this film? The movie is such an obvious attempt to recapture the narrative and sexual tension of "A Place in the Sun" that I am surprised Woody Allen got away with it. The scene around the ping-pong table in the beginning (by the way, how many British aristo families play ping-pong?)is a weak imitation of Montgomery Clift and Liz Taylor around the billiards table.
Woody Allen is free to cannibalize his own "Crimes and Misdemeanors," but George Stevens (director of "Place") and Theodore Dreiser (author of "An American Tragedy" -- the book on which "Place" was based)are probably spinning.
Also, the film is about 30 minutes too long. If Meyer's cell phone went off one more time, or if Johannson screamed "But you said you were going to tell her!" once more, I was gonna scream.