Review: http://www.worldofkj.com/article.php?i=771

Not the best (and so far below Midnight In Paris and Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which I really loved) but I enjoyed it although it does drag on in the end.

Yeah, this is not good. Anthology films really only work when there's some sort of connection between the stories, whether it thematic, narrative, or otherwise, and there's basically nothing here, apart from a rather weak common conceit that "Rome is a beautiful, romantic city" - one which Woody doesn't do a very good job of highlighting. All of the magic and mystery of Midnight in Paris is gone, and we're left with a barely amusing, only sporadically funny trifle. Definitely a miss for Woody.

This movie is awful. Not a single likable character aside from Greta Gerwig (who, for the record, is given nothing to do), poorly cast (Ellen Page is the most obvious weak link here), and storylines that range from mediocre to just plain grating. The mortician-in-the-shower scenes were excruciating in particular.

The best scene in this film, in my opinion, is the final farewell between Baldwin and Eisenberg. "With age comes wisdom!" "With age comes...exhaustion." Interesting current there.

At the same time, though, it's almost just a half-sketch variation on the relationship between Allen and Jason Biggs' characters in the under-appreciated Anything Else.

Kinda disappointed I saw this in theaters, as one person earlier put it, it's fairly bland and unexciting. Most of the plot lines grow annoying just because the movie beats them to death. Alec Baldwin was decent.

B-/C+

I thought it was outstanding and one of the best, if not best Allen films since 97

The key to what makes it interesting, is seeing that it's one big web of people getting to live their fantasies. Allen gets to find a diamond in the rough opera artist and prove his scouting talent in the industry, Bengini gets to be famous and respected (This is the biggest smoking gun that the film is about fantasies, considering how otherwise random the plotline is), the square married couple gets to each have an exciting sex adventure, Eisenberg gets a short lived affair with his "dream girl" in a pseudo intellectual neurotic (who's shorter than him!), Baldwin gets to relive his youth through someone else - to an extent stuff like the mortician getting to live out his singing dream, Pill doing the whole fall in love/get engaged in a summer in Rome, also fits into the dreams gifted angle. Most of it tieing into a pretty interesting take on wanting what you don't have, idolizing lifes other than your own, etc.

I also thought the screenplay, character interactions, plotlines and jokes flowed beautifully in a way a Woody comedy hasn't in a while. The characters' scenes are staged extremely well in a way that's not meant to pander to reality but simply the best scenes and fantasies. It's of course great to see Woody the actor back as well

Much more interesting movie and layered script than the overrated and boring Midnight in Paris, to me.

I agree with shack; this is better than midnight in Paris

This wasn't very good.

Allen usually manages to get good performances out of his cast...but damn, casting Ellen Page in that role was just silly. Page as an irresistible seductress? Please...

I think it was supposed to be a joke how she doesn't fit the normal mold of a seductress. She is the ultimate "nerd dream girl" though

It's about on-par with Midnight in Paris. It's light fluff but entertaining with lovely scenery. I just have a couple of major complaints. Roberto Benigni's storyline is simply awful. A ridiculous bore. It's the only one I wasn't remotely interested in. And Ellen Page is so miscast in this role. I like her, but she's not believable as this girl that's supposed to be irresistible to men. Maybe that's the joke, but it didn't work for me. She would have been believable in the girlfriend role that Greta Gerwig plays, who is sadly underused. A shame she was given nothing to do.

I had low expectations given the reviews so I liked it a little more than I expected to. There's not a lot to it, but it was pleasant.

7/10 (B-)