Eye candy but relatively pointless-

Rating: Null/10 (9 March 2009)

The cinematography and imagery is beautiful to look at. Between the city of Barcelona and the 4 main characters, there's plenty of eye candy... so it does keep ones interest. Johansson and Hall don't put in the best of performances. Javier and Cruz do, and are responsible for giving the movie some depth. Cruz, in particular, is excellent in her very small, yet Oscar deserving role.
You can almost sum up the entire film with one word: Fling "Two attractive American girls go to Barcelona and have a fling with a studly Spanish artist." OK... and? "And he's got a crazy-fiery Spanish former lover." and then? "Then they go back home. The End." Now, some will argue the point of the movie is bigger... that it's really about trying to find happiness and contentment within the confines of standard social relationships. Hall is afraid to pursue her lusts while Johansson goes for it only to learn it's not what she wants. There are pitfalls of wanting vs. having and perhaps we can never truly be satiated.
Perhaps an interesting theme. But IMHO not interesting enough (or meaty enough) as expressed in VCB to keep interest for over 90 minutes worth of screen time.
Unless, of course, you fill it with lots of eye candy-