Woody Allen on vacation...a puff pastry, pretty to look at but unsatisfying

Rating: 5/10 (20 August 2014)

Textbook Woody Allen, via Barcelona. Two young American friends visit Spain for the summer: Cristina is adventurous but aimless, while high-minded Vicky holds tight to her principles but is ready to melt. After a chance meeting with a handsome local artist, who is still enraptured with his fiery ex-wife, both ladies become individually involved with the hot-blooded lover--relationships that become even more complicated when the sexy ex returns. Not the rich, sumptuous spread one might expect, this light, minor Allen effort has very little of his customary wit. The location shooting is pleasant but unremarkable, while the performances are rather colorless. Penélope Cruz won a surprising Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her work, though her character (a temperamental train-wreck who thinks nothing of being intrusive) is rather a born loser. Allen's screenplay is talk-heavy with the type of relationship issues he has been mining for years (he fails to come up with anything fresh), while the scenario (deemed "seductive" and "sexy" by professional critics) is curiously muted. There's next-to-nil seducing going on, while the sex either takes place off-screen or is interrupted. ** from ****