A curious but endearing film.

Rating: 9/10 (19 October 2012)

Diane and I watched Allen's film this afternoon in Fremantle and although we agree on virtually every film we see, To Rome With Love is the exception that proves the rule. I did not mind the film, in fact, I thought that its quirkiness was very endearing and I enjoyed the afternoon's viewing but then I enjoy Woody Allen more than Diane does. She found the whole business of New York Americans swanning around Rome too hard to take but I just found the movie too peppered with great actors to dislike the film.
People probably already know that the film is segmented into a number of parts; two of which are Italian and two are about American visitors to Rome. They are in the Eternal City for differing reasons and the substance of the film concerns the individual episodes of their life with the beauty of Rome as the background. Because of the vignettes it is easy to have likes and dislikes about each of them but to me the glue holding them together was the quirkiness to Allen's script. I suppose love could be singled out as the movie's theme but this theme (if it is such) becomes so stretched that it morphs into a high school essay topic.
As one would expect with this calibre of actors at work the professionalism is constantly on display. The script, because the Master wrote it, is also of a high calibre even if the twists and turns might cause you to pause on this matter. Take the film as it is and do not wrestle with it too much; it is a very entertaining film and certainly deserves an afternoon or evening of your time in viewing it.