Photo by Philippe Antonello (c) Gravier Productions, Inc., Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
In an homage to Italian comedies of the 50s and 60s by Nanni Loy, Vittorio de Sica and Federico Fellini (I thought of Rossellini as well, but he was never a lot of laughs), Woody Allen has set up “To Rome with Love” in a somewhat episodic framework. Unlike the Italians who loved the episodic format, both in comedy and drama, in which three or four separate short films, often with the same actors playing different characters, would be combined within a thematic framework (love, war, adultery, etc.), here Allen has created different storylines, each with its own set of characters and none of which intersect. Clearly enamored of Rome, and who wouldn’t be with its magnificent ruins, fountains and colorful narrow streets, he tries to use the city as a character in the film. It’s a great idea that required more thought because, unlike “Midnight in Paris,” a film that could only have been shot in Paris and whose story intersected so beautifully with the city, “To Rome with Love” plays more like a travelogue behind stories that, for the most part, could have been filmed anywhere.
This is not to say that “To Rome with Love” is not a good film because it is. When it works, it works well and when it doesn’t, which is too often, it is still amusing but very slight. The stories unroll in no particular order which is fine but lends an overall air of unimportance to them all.
Hayley (Alison Pill), a tourist in Rome meets Michaelangelo (Flavio Parenti) and in no time they’re engaged, waiting for her parents to arrive so that both families can meet. Hayley’s parents, Phyllis (Judy Davis), a psychiatrist, and Jerry (Woody Allen), a forcibly retired producer of avant garde opera, arrive at the home of Michaelangelo’s parents, a homemaker and Giancarlo (Fabio Armiliato), a mortician. Jerry, an ass of the first order, comes suddenly to life when he hears Giancarlo singing arias in the shower. Giancarlo’s superb tenor may be just what he needs to find a way back into the business. Psychological blood will be shed over his plans.
John (Alec Baldwin), a middle aged architect of some renown is revisiting the Rome of his youth when he encounters young architecture student Jack (Jesse Eisenberg) who reminds him of his youth. Jack, living with Sally (Greta Gerwig), will soon meet and fall in love with Sally’s best friend Monica (Ellen Page), in town for a visit between acting jobs. John, acting as both Greek chorus and angel on the shoulder of Jack, has lived this very scenario and like Cassandra tries unsuccessfully to warn all concerned.
Leopoldo (Roberto Benigni) is a middle management clerk with a wife and two children who spends his days at the water cooler oogling the younger women. One day, just like any other, he wakes up to find that he is paparazzi fodder, suddenly famous for being famous.
Antonio (Alessandro Tiberi) is a country mouse who arrives in Rome with his new wife Milly (Alessandra Mastronardi) to connect with and receive approval from his rich relatives in order to land a high paying job. Milly, in a confusing turn of events, loses her way, in more than one meaning, and is nowhere to be found when Antonio’s relatives appear. Who is there, however, in a case of mistaken identity, is a prostitute (Penelope Cruz) whose services have already been paid and sent to the wrong room, Antonio’s. He must pass her off as his wife.
Perhaps, if Allen had approached this in the Italian way and made each storyline its own short film, the movie would not have felt so disjointed and disconnected. He could also have then related each vignette more easily to Rome. As clever as some of the stories are, and the story about the mortician who can only sing in the shower is hilarious, none of the stories feel finished, in the sense that we end up not caring very much about the resolutions or the characters.
John, as the Cassandra figure, has been seen so many times in other Allen films, starting with “Play it Again Sam,” and always feels smugly clever. Allen does his film the biggest disservice in playing Jerry as, well as Woody Allen, complete with neurosis jokes and schtick, a superficiality that does little to add to character. Allen the actor is at his best when suffering silently because his angst plays better on the face than tripping off the tongue. The Leopoldo story about the double edged sword that is celebrity seems terribly out of place; it’s a “so what” fantasy in a film whose other stories have at least some remote believability.
The acting, however, with the exception of Allen himself, is delicious. Alec Baldwin has never been more charming or looked better. Ellen Page fills the screen with narcissistic energy. Penelope Cruz, in a totally over-the-top stereotypic turn still steals everything but the mattress; and Judy Davis is brilliantly understated as the wife and mother who clearly undresses everyone in the room psychoanalytically.
Over all, I just wish I loved it; instead I liked it. For me the film is “To Rome with Like.”
Opening June 22 at the ArcLight Hollywood and the Landmark Theatre in West LA. Rated PG13.
Neely is a television production executive who also writes a blog about writers in television and film at http://www.nomeanerplace.com
