Fragmented and disappointing

Rating: Null/10 (16 November 2013)

I recently watched Midnight in Paris and really enjoyed the light whimsy of it and how effective it was, so as a result I continued to watch To Rome with Love – the most recent of Allen's films to be greeting with cries of "return to form" only for the film to generally be less well received soon afterwards. I had hoped this impression would not be the reality in the way Paris wasn't, but sadly it was. The film opens in busy Rome with many people coming and going and plenty of stories – a young married couple gets separated, two sets of parents come together to meet each other but inadvertently change the career path of both, an older man walks the streets and finds a younger man whose situation he recognizes and a perfectly normal man suddenly finds himself the focus of an adoring press.
Amongst all these ideas are some nice ones and some less so ones. The film runs long (for Allen) trying to fit them in and it gives the whole film the feel of a fragmented sketch show where no one thing is done well enough to carry the weaker moments. I did enjoy aspects of most sections but generally I found myself underwhelmed with how they were delivered. The older man/younger man thread is a nice one but it seems stiff and lacking spark and inspiration. Allen himself as actor overdoes it and seems out of place a little – which is a shame to see, but the rest of the cast are mixed. Some are natural, some are "acting", some are fun and some are not. It is a very mixed bag and again one that doesn't totally come together. Visually it is very appealing but I found the style a little bit fake and forced – perhaps I felt this as I have only been to Italy a handful of times and maybe don't have the same experience I do in France? Don't know but for some reason I didn't find too much of it to be charming which I guess was the hope.
A shame; forgiving Allen fans will find some enjoyment in it, and it is not without its good aspects, but generally I found it fragmented and disappointing, lacking the charm it really needed to have.