Spanish Fly-By-Night

Rating: 7/10 (8 February 2009)

Lots of positive reports about this one coupled with 'his best for ages' squibs perhaps oversold this one. There are several pluses; the location shooting that stops just short of being a valentine to Barcelona, the really fine performance from Rebecca Hall, the not bad performances from Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz but against this we must balance the wooden performance that teeters on the edge of being embarrassing from Scarlett Johanson and the woeful lack of the one-liners that tend to define a Woody Allen movie. The arabesque performed by the several lovers both old and new is mildly interesting but ultimately says nothing new nor does it add anything to the sum of knowledge on the subject. On the other hand it is certainly a pleasant diversion.