Entertaining and funny, Woody's still got it!

Rating: 8/10 (15 August 2008)

People have been criticizing Allen recently for taking himself too seriously and not meshing his more dramatic subject matter with the comedic elements of his screenplays, thus creating half-assed contrivances like last year's Cassandra's Dream, but Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a sure improvement. No, it's not a completely original entrance into the Woody canon; a lot of his prior themes about sex, love, and the consequences each can respectively produce pop up here but somehow he still manages to make it all seem fresh.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona goes down easy. It's a deceptively simple meditation on the connection between love, art, and the ability to express oneself romantically and emotionally through the medium. Watching the film feels like spending a breezy afternoon in the beautiful titular city while the security and assurance one holds so closely crumbles around them. The two titular characters arrive in Barcelona with smiles on their faces, ready to relax and enjoy their youthful freedom, having no idea what's about to hit them.
Allen slyly and ironically plays on the whole notion of foreign escapism. Most people hold this notion that they can get away from their current lives and lose themselves in another culture and with this film, Allen explores the sometimes negative aspects of enveloping oneself into something one just doesn't understand. Indeed, it's what both Vicky and Cristina do, as their entire self-confident personas are stripped down to bare nothingness during their stay in Spain, by the simple and simultaneously complex chemistry of two past-lovers played energetically by Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz.
But none of what is mentioned above is ever treated with the slightest heavy-hand. While it may sound grim, Allen perfectly induces a little comedy around each and every corner to remind us just how ridiculously irrational we can get over the trivialities of love. It's always fun, never mindless, and consistently well-written throughout, as one would come to expect of Allen.
There is one glaring flaw however, and that is the often pointless narration. Every now and then a detached voice-over will tune in to describe what we can already tell from the images on screen. At other times, he'll describe the character's feelings or give background on certain situations. It's a lazy tactic that replaces what the actors should already be doing themselves and what the script should've indicated via character development. However, it gives the film this oddly lived-in feel, like an old scrapbook of forgotten memories to a trip to Spain.
The performances are all impressive. As expected, Bardem and Cruz are sizzling on screen, their chemistry is completely undeniable, even when it seems like they're about to get at each other's throats. Newcomer Rebecca Hall gives the most emotional performance, as her character is swayed passionately numerous times throughout the film, portraying a woman who is unsure of her grip on life. And Johansson turns in her best performance in a Woody Allen picture, playing a woman whose liberties are challenged by the even more unconventional and unplanned lifestyles of the couple she falls for.
In the end, the film is an assurance that Allen still has "it" and is feeling ever more confident behind the lens. Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a highly entertaining, funny, and often heartfelt play on that little thing called love.