A Delightful Tribute To Italy

To me who's a life-long Woody Allen fan, his latest film To Rome With Love is a summer delight - simple, light and creative without too many complexities. It's not as brilliant as Midnight In Paris, but I still like it. Plus, Allen hasn't appeared in his own movies for a long time, and his role as a neurotic former opera impresario is extremely funny.

As with other Woody Allen movies, there's no logic to his plot. The three stories that happened in Rome are totally independent of each other. The only interwoven themes are fantasy, adultery, art and the pros and cons of celebrity culture. This is the 'aging' part of Woody Allen (at age 76) speaking to us. He reminisces about the passion of youth through his sidekick Alec Baldwin in the movie. His own character, as described by his wife in the movie played by Judy Davis, is afraid of death and is ill at ease with his own retirement because he equates retirement with death.

I've visited Rome at least three times now, and I always love the chaos in the Eternal City. Allen definitely captures the beauty behind the chaos in this movie. Paris is always too affected and arrogant for me, but the Italians in Rome are so spontaneous and sincere - full of la dolce vita! As I'm learning Spanish now, I also found the Italian language in the movie very similar and was delighted that I could figure out what the Italian actors said in the movie without relying too much on the subtitles.

Allen picked two young Canadian actors in this flick - Ellen Page and Alison Pill - who did an adequate job in their roles. But the former is not attractive enough to be a seductress: I don't care how often Page had to defend herself in her interviews about this role that you don't have to look sensual in order to seduce the opposite sex. Page might be a good actor, but she's just not convincing in this role. Maybe Woody Allen saw some qualities of his former wife Mia Farrow in her? Penelope Cruz and Alec Baldwin are both great in their parts. Everybody else is raving about Roberto Benigni's performance, but I just can't see why.

Relax, let your fantasies run wild, and you'll enjoy this movie as much as I did. In the meantime, I'm really looking forward to seeing Rome again for the fourth time in October!