Jamie passion and passionfruit!

Each year the critics seem to say, best Woody Allen film in years and then by year’s end the said movie is described as one of his poorer efforts.  Let’s see what they make of this which is surely his most serious film in years.

I found it disturbing.  Maybe it is supposed to be but the apology for blind ambition justifying all (apart from an ill placed ghost scene) was all rather upsetting.  Like most recent Allen films, we had here a whole bunch of good actors, some good lines but a lot of moralising and fewer jokes than usual.  The story isn’t exactly original and the setting of an upper class London family gets a bit cloying.  Largely, because we don’t get to care for the characters.  Apart from Chris, the hero, none of them get the benefit of much character development and some are positively cliched and monodimensional.  What makes it bearable is the way Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the leading role grows during the film.  From being a Jude Law clone early on he shows he can run the gamut of emotions by the end.  Scarlett Johansson does a great job too as Nola, not that she has that much to do in the second half of the movie but be irritable and slightly crazy!  The rest are there but more as backdrop than anything and I didn’t like the end at all.  Competent effort by all those involved except perhaps Allen who shows he can do rehash in a foreign setting but not that much more.  Watchable but it probably won’t change your life.

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