Woody's recent films have often left me unsatisfied. He still has all of the neuroses and staccato dialogue, but has, unlike this director/writer, forgotten to add the laughs and fine wit. Kudos to Ms. Holofcener; perhaps she has inherited the Wood Man's mantle. On her it looks good.
shareHave you seen Blue Jasmine?
shareI thought it was quite good, but not a return to form. His dialogue has taken a back seat to his theme or message in recent years. He tends to beat you over the head with it from repeated angles. In Blue Jasmine it is the intended "revelation" that her sister and brother in law are, despite their ordinariness, truly the better, happier people. In Midnight in Paris it was that each generation yearns for the perceived glamour of previous eras, thinking them superior to their own. I want to shout out: "Enough, already, We GET it!!" (But, so far, I've managed not to). And, increasingly, he features unappealing, callous characters, perhaps feeling it is a greater feat for a director to overcome the antipathy of the audience towards his main characters; that it is too easy to create a film with pleasing characters. I felt this way in Match Point as well as Blue Jasmine. I figure that, were I to meet them at a party, I'd find some pretext to retreat to the opposite corner of the room for the night, so why pay $10 to watch them for 90 minutes or so?
shareWas this funny?
Its that man again!!
I will make an attempt to explain why Woody Allen is a much funnier and more successful director in recent years than this movie.
This movie derives most of its humor from showing us what is expected. In that way, personally, I feel smarter than the filmmaker. Anyone could see a mile away the central premise, and of course the conclusion and almost eveythign in beteween.
In MIdnight in Paris, Woody surprises people. Like the scene in which Owen Wilson is preparing for his next mysterious 'date' in the hotel room, opens the door to leave, and his fiance and her parents suddenly barge in the room, back early from their overnight trip to Mt St Michel because the father took ill. Now he is trapped.
A lesser writer/director would show them in the car on the way to Mt St Michel, getting sick, and turning around to go back to the hotel, thereby setting up the audience early. The 'surprise' is ruined, in the comparitively cheap and pandering attampt to maintain an edge with the audience. For the OP, I guess that kind of humor is funny, but only in the most obvious way.
I have to sort of disagree. Sure it's was obvious and predictable, but this movie felt real, and not cliched in the process of it's storytelling. I do have to say I did love Midnight in Paris and Blue Jasmine. Although overall Woody's post 2000 films are a hit and miss. Anyways, I liked this movie.
Go Mischa/Marissa(2003-2006)
Wisdom is freedom