Movie Review: Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Woody Allen is one of those directors whose films I need to see more of. My experience has been pretty limited thus far, with the majority of my experience coming with his output over the past decade or so, with just a few coming from his earlier output. That said, I found 2005's Match Point to be an exceptional film, however the subsequent film I saw, Cassandra's Dream, was less than stellar despite a couple of strong performances. That leads to my expectations for Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which consisted primarily of hopes for it to be better than Cassandra's Dream. I mean, I really did not know much of anything regarding the plot as I entered the theater. I knew that the stars included Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz, and Javier Bardem, but that was about it.

As I watched the film unfold, I had the vague impression that I was watching a Pedro Almodovar film, what with the presence of Penelope Cruz, the Spanish setting, and the themes of sexual politics. Of course, with the smartly written dialogue it is still identifiable as a Woody Allen film. However, no matter how good the dialogue is, or even how good the performances are, I would hesitate strongly to call this a good movie. Better than Cassandra's Dream? Definitely, but that is not saying much, being, itself, another film with good performances and some good dialogue.

The title, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, does a good job of giving you the setup in as brief a fashion as possible. The main characters are named Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson), and they spend their time in Barcelona. From there, you will just have to watch the film, as calling the film Vicky Cristina Juan Antonio Maria Elena Barcelona would have just been a little too unwieldy.

Vicky and Cristina go to Barcelona to spend the summer with relatives of Vicky, who have agreed to put them up for a couple of months. While the two are there, Vicky begins work on her graduate thesis about Catalan identity, while Cristina intends to have fun and enjoy herself. All is going well until one night at an art exhibit, they have a chance encounter with tortured artist Juan Antonio (Bardem).

Well, before we get to that meeting, it is important to note the differences between the two women. While they are best friends, they differ in what they look for in relationships, with Vicky being the conservative one and Cristina being a little bit more open-minded and adventurous.

Back to the encounter with Juan Antonio, he invites them to take a trip with promises of sights, wine, and sex. Cristina is immediately taken with the artist, while Vicky takes a little more convincing. Eventually (predictably?) both women fall for him, despite Vicky having a fiancee back in New York. This becomes a telling point later when he arrives in Barcelona for an impromptu wedding. This adds a little more to the relationship dynamic, as does the arrival of Juan Antonio's ex-wife, Maria Elena, following a suicide attempt.

On the surface, it appears that there is a lot of ground that can be covered and plenty of opportunity to grow these characters into something compelling. Unfortunately, it does not happen. The characters do have interesting exchanged that hint at depth and give the idea of something bigger, but it never really takes off.

I liked the performances of both Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson. No, they did not grow as much as they could have, but they did still hold some interest. Then there is Javier Bardem, the last time I saw him on the big screen, he carried a compressed air gun and was one of the most frightening screen killers in some time. This time he just oozes charisma and charm, showing just what kind of range he really has. Beyond them, the one performance that brought this picture to life, albeit in a too little too late way, is Penelope Cruz. She just brings a unique energy to the story as she plays an unstable woman, crazy in love if you will.

One element of the movie that needs to be mentioned is the voice over. Throughout the film, the narrative is broken by narration that more often than not stated the obvious and only served to take me out of the film. It was a voice not well suited for delivering voice over and it was offering information that could be gleaned from what was on the screen. It struck me as lazy writing and only served to diminish the impact.

Yes, this is a step up from Cassandra's Dream, but it is missing something. There was something a bit cold and clinical to everything, reinforced by the narration. I was held at arms length, never allowed into the story, never allowed to become fully invested in the lives of the characters.

Bottomline. I was slightly entertained, some of the dialogue was quite good, and the performances were also good. The movie is moderately entertaining, but could have been so much more.

Mildly Recommended.