Vicky Cristina Bedazzling

Rating: 8/10 (23 December 2014)

The two (make that three) female leads in this movie are absolutely must-see to-die-for gorgeous. Rebecca Hall shines engagingly as conservative Vicky. She absolutely rules! THe part written for Scarlett takes a while to pick up, and I was initially, during the first half, surprised that she would have bothered to play this much smaller role than her co-star. But then it does change. As for Penelope Cruz, she is of course great, although her character is grating most of the time.
Immediately off-putting though, was that cheap effect, the voice-over narrative. Bad idea. Could have been avoided. I suspect it is an editing trick to make the movie run faster, which of course works, but is really, really lame, and from an experienced director? No!
My other gripe is the weak ending. Come on, did the film crew overstay their welcome in Barcelona? Did their visas run out? No more film? Woody ate something bad? Budget cuts? So they just packed up and left, Game Over, The End? Had a Part 2 in mind, but nothing came of it?
As far as visual attractiveness go, movie is tops. But script fizzled out. I think most people would agree that it had a great start but did not live up to expectations as story progressed.
I would encourage everybody to see it, despite its flaws. It is ultimately charming and very realistic.
And, I am not one of those chronically dissatisfied people, with reference to the dialog by Maria Elena, I just had to point out that this one isn't quite as perfect as it promised to be coming out of the gate with that wonderful, wonderful scene where Juan introduces himself to Vicky and Cristina as a suitor for a threesome. I've watched that chapter on replay, it is marvelous!