In Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona, three women share one man in this account of life, love, and art. Right. One suave Spanish man can satisfy the emotional and physical needs of three very different women. Is the female gender so caught up in old school ideas of romance that the man of every woman's dreams is the stereotypical Latin lover? According to Allen, it is.
This dramedy traces the tangled relationships of two American women and a Don Juan-esque Spanish man and his psycho ex-wife. Rebecca Hall's portrayal of Vicky is flat, but I guess her acting hits the character right on the head. How else can you play a woman whose only standard in life is to be normal? Scarlett Johannson plays the role of Cristina, a passionate young woman who is in search of her purpose in life. However, there was no passion. Johannson was just like every character she has every played: a seductress with no personality.
The only reason to watch this film, other than the beautiful Barcelona setting, is to see Penelope Cruz as a crazed, potty-mouth ex-lover. After all the hype about her performance and her Oscar win, I waited patiently for about an hour until she finally appeared in the plot. Cruz brought much needed life to the screen with her sharp Spanish wit and over-the-top outbursts.
Vicky and Cristina are disposable characters. This film would have been smarter and more entertaining without the "psuedo-intellectual" rubbish.
Friday, March 6, 2009
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