Almost perfect

Rating: 8/10 (8 January 2006)

Woody Allen, who has been struggling in his most recent films, is in top form here, aided by sterling performances from his leads as described in all the other reviews here. He manages to capture London and the upper crust perfectly for the bulk of his intended audience: Americans.
He loses two stars for two reasons: a sluggish 'first act,' which often drags and violates one of the principal dicta in film-making: move as far forward into the action as possible--any sensible audience will 'know' what brought us to where we are; the second reason is that (and Woody Allen must have known this) some of the film was apparently shot for television, with 'talking heads' that loom fifteen feet tall on the theatre screen and overwhelm the viewer. On the home screen, this would be in acceptable scale but on the big screen it's overpowering.
This would have been a perfect 10 had it been a 90-minute film. As it is, it's remarkably good and speaks excellently to Allen's sensitivity to British culture and behaviour, and his mastery over nuanced plot details.
Jonathan Rhys-Davies is magnetically watchable as he processes the realities around him, conveying emotion and meaning even when not saying anything (a good test for acting skill). It might have made him more credible as one who had come from a humble Irish background had he used the slightest hint of an Irish accent, but that's not a serious criticism except for the accent-aware (guilty as charged, m'lud).