A Tale of Two Tales (some spoilers present)

Rating: 5/10 (18 June 2006)

Perhaps Woody Allen ought to be praised for enmeshing two separate tales into one almost cohesive whole. Yet, the feeling one gets when progressing from this slowly evolving tale of romance into one about double homicide is only emptiness. Nevermind that greed and cold-blooded murder are all aspects quite contrary to the developed character who commits the crime, who, up to this stark and desperate turning point halfway into the movie, would have found it seemingly impossible to defy the one thing he felt sure of and passionate about in himself in order to save that which he, we are led to believe, cared so little about: a comfortable, stable position in life. What should we have gleaned from this, then, that men will throw away their most precious desires (namely love) for money and a small emolument of normalcy? But we already see that everyday.
It is too difficult to accept the premise of this murder based on desperation, or that the character could devolve so quickly into lies and callousness, and it seems that too easily real meaning here is traded, in turn, for yet another "shocking" turn of plot, all of which is wrapped up in the end with a few fine tethers which is, unfortunately, not enough to hold this nest of loose feathers together.