Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Rating: 10/10 (21 August 2008)

Vicky Cristina Barcelona is about two American friends who are both in their twenties, who decide to go to Spain for a few months during the summer. The first of two girls is Vicky who is engaged to be married to her fiancé back home in America. Vicky is studying to complete her masters degree and overall is more of a conservative person. Cristina on the other hand has been in some amateurish type films and she really longs for romance whether it may be a one night stand, or a real lasting one. Cristina is a lot more adventurous which can not always be a good thing and even though at times Vicky and Cristina are the total opposites of each other they still work together well as good friends. While on their trip in Spain they meet an older Spanish artist who invites the both of them to come stay with him at his house and enjoy the many sights around them. Ultimately the film is about relationships. Some that work, others that do not and for people who get left out and are not particularly too sure of what they want. All this is told through narration and of course great dialogue and acting from the cast. Some of the television advertisements for Vicky Cristina Barcelona make the film look like some sexy, or erotic comedy, but I can most assuredly tell you that this film is neither one of those two things. Instead we are treated to a really interesting character study about relationships and the trials and sometimes the not so always pleasant things that happen in them. I found a lot of the film to be an accurate and honest look of this subject by providing us with everyday characters who would probably handle the relationships in this movie like most people of their age, or even older would as well. The writing and dialogue from writer/director Woody Allen is at it's best and he really deserves a Best Original Screenplay nomination for the film not only because of the well spoken, thought provoking and sometimes funny dialogue, bur for also writing and crafting such a story with some unique and overall really human and realistic characters that are examined in this tale of relationships which is a subject that Woody Allen does often and well too. The acting for the most part was really good with a standout performance by Rebecca Hall as Vicky. The other performances are quite good too, but I found Rebecca's performance as Vicky had the most emotion and depth to it and she delivered it perfectly. Spanish actors Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz yelling back and forth in Spanish at each other is also very interesting to watch and I enjoyed Bardem's playboy character. I'd probably have to say that the weakest performance in the film comes from Scarlett Johansson who plays Cristina, simply because her character doesn't have the same insight or is as dynamic, or as interesting as the other characters. Not to say that she weighs the film down, or anything like that, no not at all, but compared to the others it just really is not a standout performance, but because of the way her character is written, she is not given as much to work with and she is not as interesting a character as say Rebecca Hall's Vicky, or anything like that. Still that would be my only mild complaint about the film, but because of how the film plays out, one weak performance can not stop a movie with otherwise great acting and writing from being a great film. Listening to these characters talk was a very enjoyable experience if you are a fan of good writing and with the interesting dissection of these characters and these honest looks at their love lives I would say it is all done very well. This is also a beautiful looking film and is a lot to take in and think about. Even though I would not call this film a comedy I would say it works perfect as a drama and because of all the mastered writing and acting that went into it, I would say it's one of this year's finest accomplishments and one of the best films of the year so far.