To Woody With Love.

Rating: 10/10 (13 July 2015)

To Rome With Love (2012): Dir: Woody Allen / Cast: Woody Allen, Roberto Benigni, Alec Baldwin, Penelope Cruz, Jesse Eisenberg: Romantic comedy about the idea of Rome as a romantic symbol when in fact it contains every bit as many problems as any other place. Woody Allen and Judy Davis play a married couple flying to Rome to meet their daughter's fiancé. Their daughter is a journalist while her fiancé's father is a mortician whom Allen learns has a talent for singing opera. The problem is that this talent is restricted to the shower. This plays out as one of the great hilarious payoffs when Allen presents the most awkward stage plays. Roberto Benigni plays an ordinary guy who is suddenly hounded by paparazzi who ask him the most absurd details into his life. It is Allen's humorous attack on fame and its illusions. Alec Baldwin seems to be everywhere when it comes to coaching a young heart throb who is about to cheat on his girlfriend with her best friend, an aspiring actress who has just arrived in town. Penelope Cruz plays a prostitute who ends up in the wrong hotel room and mistaken as the fiancé of someone who is set to meet relatives. His real fiancé is lost within the city and loses her cell phone, but she becomes the target of romance by a famous actor and this leads to the most hysterical burglary attempt ever conspired. Jesse Eisenberg seems to be observing it all, hanging out with Baldwin enlightening each other. This is Woody Allen at his best as he presents witty dialogue, comic encounters at their most inspiring, and a view of Rome that paints a far different picture than reputed. Score: 10 / 10