Didactic Doldrums

Rating: Null/10 (18 August 2008)

Here's a story... of a lovely lady... who wanted safety and predictability in her forthcoming marriage...
And here also... is another lady... and all she wants is bohemian rhapsodies...
Okay, there are certainly worse and duller Woody Allen movies, but this is nowhere even his modest achievements, and part of the problem is that Allen gives us no more than didactic sketches of his two main characters, Vicky and Christina, courtesy of an extremely tedious voice-over.
Javier Bardem comes off as a little more three-dimensional, but not by much.
Oddly, the day after I watched VCB in the theatre, I saw Edward Burns' 1996 SHE'S THE ONE for the first time. No one would ever think STO a masterpiece of social melodrama, but without a lot of cumbersome backstory Burns' story gave viewers characters that were well-thought out as characters standing on their own and in interaction with other characters.
I wish Woody Allen could do this well again.