A Very Disappointing Buffet of Nothing Much

Rating: 4/10 (9 December 2012)

After the critical and commercial successes of "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" and "Midnight in Paris," Woody Allen follows these city- tributes up with another one, this time for the Italian capital of Rome. In my opinion though, unlike the previous two films mentioned, "To Rome with Love" had honestly nothing to love about it.
The whole film is a string of four different strange stories with apparently nothing to do with each other.
Jack (Jesse Eisenberg) is an American student living in Rome with his fiancée. When his fiancée's best friend Monica (Ellen Page) comes to visit, Jack gets attracted to her. His friend John (Alec Baldwin) advises Jack accordingly. While Eisenberg and Page have great chemistry together, the seemingly imaginary nature of Baldwin's character makes this episode strange.
Leopoldo (Roberto Benigni)is a man who suddenly becomes an overnight celebrity for no apparent reason. This story is downright senseless and lame-brained. I cannot imagine how Woody finds this story funny in any way. Benigni seemed to just being himself, stupidly.
Antonio and Milly are a newly wed couple from a small town who are in Rome to meet some relatives. Milly loses her way when she was looking for a hairdresser and gets caught up in a tryst with movie "sex symbol" Luca Salta. Meanwhile, Antonio was hooking up with prostitute Anna who entered their hotel room by mistake. This episode was also pretty annoying as well as silly, with only the luminous Penelope Cruz, who played Anna, as the saving grace.
Woody Allen himself returns in front of the camera as Jerry a music producer who visits Italy to meet his daughter's fiancé and his family. He was so taken by the great operatic voice of Giancarlo, the fiancé's father played by real-life tenor Fabio Armiliato, that Jerry wants to promote him. But alas, it turns out Giancarlo can only sing well when he is in the shower! Again this becomes another disappointingly preposterous episode.
Ultimately, you will feel like this film is an absolute waste of time. You do not get anything out of it, not even a good feeling. This is a big disappointing letdown from Mr. Allen especially as he is coming off a series of film successes. "To Rome with Love" will definitely NOT be one of those successes.