Bum note

Rating: 6/10 (6 January 2006)

This film is very funny, but most of the humour derives from Allen's ignorance of British culture and mores and was presumably unintended by him. You wonder why his British actors didn't intervene to save the script from some of its worst howlers. Nobody ever refers to the Royal Opera House Covent Garden as 'The Royal,' and the operas that are performed there are not accompanied by a piano - presumably the budget for the film did not extend to an orchestra? It's also very unlikely that the patrons of the opera house would be seen dead at an Andrew Lloyd-Webber musical, as his productions are considered the height of naffness amongst most London classical music lovers, especially ones who read Dostoyevsky. Either Lloyd-Webbers's company has coughed up the money for a product placement or he has been given this free publicity because Allen thinks American audiences will know who he is. As for the holes in the plot...others have already done justice to them.