I'm having a good run for having seen movies, but not a good one for movies from my ballot :
74. Walk Hard : The Dewey Cox Story (2007) - Laughed a lot regarding this one, which I find to be a very funny comedy - skewering those musical biopics which we weren't done with yet by 2007, for we've seen plenty since. John C. Reilly is always a hoot, and rarely gets to grab hold of a lead role like this. "Let's Duet" has to be my favourite song - stuffed full of super double entendres. I didn't expect it to show up here though, and didn't vote for it.
73. Everyone Says I Love You (1996) - I like a lot of Woody Allen films, but I don't like this one. I wrote a long review on Letterboxd : " Whenever the collection isn't staring me in the face, I forget how many terrific films Woody Allen has made. Midnight in Paris, Annie Hall, Manhattan, Blue Jasmine, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Irrational Man, Zelig, Love and Death, Deconstructing Harry, Radio Days, Sleeper, Husbands and Wives, Bananas, Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex, Stardust Memories, Wonder Wheel, Take the Money and Run, Interiors and more. It's a ridiculous film resume, and with his 50th film, Coup De Chance, out now you can obviously discern that he's made so many there are bound to be a few absolute clunkers that don't really work. Not every single one can be brilliant. Well, Everyone Says I Love You certainly isn't brilliant. It's a film made from Allen's comfort zone - his narrative familiarity with wealth, high society, and love combined awkwardly meshing in this musical that not only has Allen slurping lips with a much younger woman, but using information gleaned from her therapy sessions to trick her into bed with him. All's fair to Allen - he's not exactly a "Me Too" icon.
This film came out in-between Mighty Aphrodite and Deconstructing Harry, both of which I'm familiar with - but I was completely unaware of it's existence. It had passed me by. It has a stacked cast - Alan Alda, Woody himself, Drew Barrymore, Goldie Hawn, Edward Norton, Natalie Portman, Julia Roberts and Tim Roth are the A-listers, but they have talented backing. They all sing (unrehearsed) to varying degrees of success (Woody whispers - an adroit tactic, in the meantime poor tuneless Julia Roberts falls flat. At the other end of the spectrum, Woody had to demand Goldie Hawn "sing worse" to match the everyday quality of singing - she was too good a warbler), but the master filmmaker's taste in music is simply far too old fashioned and way too staid for me. At times this music choice works, but at others the needed contrast is missing. Dennis Potter turned this kind of musical into a high artform, while Woody is simply Woody. The one big tick for me was his developing love affair with European cities, and as such we see plenty of Paris and Venice - two wonderful locations for this kind of film. The big negative was Allen's penchant for his characters to be ostentatiously, filthy rich in the most vulgar fashion possible.
The story, as loose as it is, revolves around an extended family unit, and the various romantic relationships that both blossom and die among it's many members. As already noted, the one with Woody is the one that made me the most uncomfortable - but as an added bonus we have Tim Roth's Charles Ferry, the only non-wealthy character in the film. Just out of prison, and obviously hopelessly corrupt and corrupted, he forces himself upon Barrymore's Skylar which prompts her to fall in love with him and dump fiance Holden Spence (Edward Norton). Look, it's all lighthearted and silly - but often there's an undercurrent in Allen's films that raise little red flags. I'd have much preferred to see Skylar beat Ferry up - which would have been funny (little fancy, demur rich girl beating up hardened crim) and more appropriate. I know - it's all about love in it's many guises, but it's love through Woody Allen's eyes. I can't afford to jet around to Paris and Venice on a whim, and if I force myself on somebody they probably won't fall in love with me. Using information gathered by snooping on therapy sessions to seduce someone is creepy. I do, however, have a song in my heart - so when Allen shows us what this could have been with the song and dance at the end - by the Seine - it's a little too late, but still appreciated because that's magic." That says enough.
Seen : 19/28
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