This is really close to being a perfect rating. Hell, it just might be. It's the best Woody Allen movie I've seen in a long time. Cate Blanchett is just a revelation and delivers what I think may be her finest performance yet. Also, I don't care what the reviews say when they call this a drama. This movie is uproariously funny. One of the funniest movies of the year and certainly funnier than Allen's last few 'comedies.' Jasmine was such a despicable character that I couldn't wait to see what else she would say or do

An easy A.

I liked it. It's not up to par with Midnight In Paris imo but the whole ensemble is great. Blanchett is amazing unsurprisingly, if she never won I would've said the BA Oscar would be hers no doubt. I think one of the things the movie could've done more is to play more on the sister dynamic. It surely is Jasmine's story, so I didn't really feel like the extra scenes with Ginger really added much.

Blue Jasmine is arresting and thoughtful, Woody Allen's least frothy movie since Match Point. Obviously inspired by A Streetcar Named Desire, the film spins tales of excess, morality and adjustment. But it's really about the twitchy Jasmine character, essayed by Cate Blanchett in a bravura, fearless performance. It's been a while since an Allen film had a protagonist this striking, and Blanchett is incredible in the part. She's backed up by a strong supporting cast, particularly Sally Hawkins and Bobby Cannavale. The film has some flaws, to be sure; there's an occasionally uneasy mix of tones and some of the turns feel a bit obvious. But with such a dynamic lead character at its center, the movie will be hard to forget. B+

This film has its moments, flashes of inspiration, most of them generated by the cast, but I found it a tad unsatisfying and uninspired on the whole. Neither comic nor tragic, it is instead caught in a lethargic grey area in the center, and despite a 10,000-volt, no-stone-unturned lead performance by Cate Blanchett, one almost sure to earn her yet another Oscar nomination, I never found Jasmine's plight (competent and self-satisfied when flush, desperate and fractured when not) as riveting as the film intends. She is a bit of a one-note, despicable character, to be honest, and the film's fixation with her leaves other interesting avenues, including her sister's relationships, underdeveloped. My favorite part may be controversial standup comedian Andrew Dice Clay's surprising, tender performance as a masculine handyman laid low by financial failure and unable to move on. I wish he were the main character.

C

Allen has explored almost every dynamic and element here before, with superior results. The portrayal of sisterly estrangement here cannot hold a candle to Interiors and Hannah and Her Sisters. Crimes and Misdemeanors and Match Point explore financial tensions, the push-and-pull between the rich and the poor and subsequent resentments, with much more impact.

Interesting interpretation. I didn't find Jasmine one-note, though, particularly as played by Blanchett. The character is a prickly, selfish, neurotic mess of a person, but Blanchett is so potent that she almost makes her...I dunno if "sympathetic" is the right word, but I didn't hate her certainly.

I really can't get over how good she was. I mean, I've always found her to be one of the top actresses working but this might just be the best work of her career.

Another comment: as much as I respect him, I believe Allen's limitations are a significant problem here. He gets details wrong. While it may very well be true of the 77-year-old Allen, I do not believe this wealthy, modern woman who organizes parties and charity events does not know how to turn on a computer. She would be a jaded old hand with a laptop, a smartphone, etc. And as much macho and profane authenticity actors such as Cannavale and Dice Clay exude, the tone of their performances clashes with the words Allen has them say. He just cannot write salt-of-the-earth characters, particularly modern men. He has an idea of them (greasy, blustery) from literature and other films and maybe from his childhood memories, but he cannot nail the vocabulary. They are crude caricatures rather than human beings.

A few more observations as they pop into my mind:

- I wonder if the film cuts to the past too often. A few scenes are fine, such as Ginger and her husband's visit, but it almost becomes a two-pronged film, past and present. Baldwin's scenes start to feel repetitive. We get it: he's a pompous ass and obvious philanderer, she does not mind glancing in the other direction as long as her epicurean comfort is maintained, etc. Leaving him and their relationship in the shadows a bit more would not hurt the film. To be honest, I am not sure I even needed the "twist" where we discover she turned him into the FBI out of unconsidered, post-argument spite, and the last scene with his son in the music shop did not hold much weight for me because he is such a non-character.

- How we are meant to interpret Ginger's third-act decisions, including her reconciliation with Chili? Her storyline is strange in general. It is a total afterthought compared to Jasmine's melodrama, yet also very prominent in terms of screen-time. Are we meant to be glad she and Chili reunited despite Jasmine's brutal criticism? Or is he indeed just a brute, and she has now returned to an unhealthy cycle just as her sister obviously has in the end?

As long as its better than From Rome With Love, which depressed me for like a month

That movie was unbearable.

It is worlds better.

This is superior to To Rome with Love, but I don't prefer it to, say, Scoop or Melinda and Melinda.

In my opinion, people are overvaluing this because they are so entranced by Cate's full-ham, acting-with-a-capital-A performance.

BLUE JASMINE

I really liked this film. I thought Cate Blanchett was wonderful in this role. She was like a type of Sybil. She obviously had some type of psychological issue. Who wouldn't when your world comes crashing down and your child disappears from your life. All that and she was adopted to boot. It was cool seeing all the range of mental stability and instability she showed. I don't think many actresses can really pull that off in a believable way. I also liked her sister and Saarsgard. I thought ADC was meh and Baldwin was just being Baldwin. Even with that, it's really all about Catherine's character. It's almost as if her physical presence was in one world and her mind in totally different one at times. I also enjoyed the ending and just before because you didn't know how it was gonna end. It could have gone very black but stayed just above the fray I think. I really felt sorry for this woman in the end even though she was definitely psycho on some level.

Grade - A

The only thing that was really good about the movie was Blanchett. The rest was just meh.

I liked Blue Jasmine, but I tuink those three above are between mediocre and very bad.

This movie made me think that Woody Allen is a huge East Bound and Down fan. Jasmine is the female Kenny Powers. It took a bit for this to click in. I was wondering whether I was supposed to root for this awful person for about twenty minutes, but once its obvious that this is no redemption story I really got into it. Seeing her try to rebuild her fake life while bringing down the walls of everyone around her was fascinating.

cateful

I was looking for the right words to convey my thoughts, but you summed it up entirely.

Blue Jasmine

Cate Blanchett gives a superb performance. The film is good, and covers a lot of ground that we can all familiarise with. I couldn't help but loathe Janette/Jasmine, though, and also Ginger and her horrible boyfriends. The scenes with Hal and Dwight were the most interesting. This is a real dividing film. You either side with the poor but honest or with the rich but deceitful mask-wearers. I sided with the latter, and despite hating the character of Jasmine, she was fine when not acting manic.

Allen makes brilliant films. He always has. This doesn't quite match up to Midnight in Paris, but it's still a fantastic film.

B+

Good, but not great. Cate Blanchett is definitely the MVP, as her remarkable performance brings just the right touches of humor and humanity to Jasmine's neuroses.

B+

So I just watched this again and it is much better on repeat viewing. Cate Blanchett man.

I truly think Cate's performance is going to be looked back on for decades as one of the greatest in cinema history. There was no Oscar more deserving last night than hers.

Except Gravity for VFX

I don't know about that. Sure, she was very very good. But one of the all-time great performances? Probably not. In her category, I tought Meryl Streep was better. I know everyone expects greatness from Streep. but it was one of her career-best performances.