To Rome With Love

Continuing his cinematic tour of Europe, writer-director Woody Allen heads for Italy, where his ensemble cast courts adventure and romance. Studious young architect Jack (Jesse Eisenberg)—romantically torn between steady girlfriend Sally (Greta Gerwig) and her flirtatious actress pal Monica (Ellen Page)—is skeptically counseled by the surreal spirit of celebrated older architect John (Alec Baldwin). Meanwhile, ambitious businessman Antonio (Alessandro Tiberi) arrives from Pordenone with his naïve bride Milly (Alessandra Mastronardi); after the latter becomes lost, she encounters a legendary, lecherous movie star (Antonio Albanese), leaving Antonio alone in the hotel room when a brazen prostitute (Penélope Cruz) barges in, followed by his judgmental, elderly relatives who mistake her for his wife. Then there's an unhappily retired American opera director (Woody Allen) who flies in with his acerbic psychiatrist wife (Judy Davis) to join their daughter (Alison Pill) and meet her Italian fiancé (Flavio Parenti), a left-wing lawyer whose father (renowned tenor Fabio Armiliato) has an incredible voice—when he's singing in the shower. Finally, there's an ordinary, innocuous clerk (Roberto Benigni)—a Roman Everyman—who's endearingly seduced by fame after suddenly and inexplicably becoming a celebrity. Allen depicts these vintage characters as absurdist stereotypes while also recycling uneven plots (clearly inspired by Fellini's The White Sheik and La Dolce Vita), but the Eternal City shimmers here, especially with a soundtrack that combines romantic ballads, synthetic pop, and operatic interludes. Recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a “Con Amore: A Passion for Rome” making-of featurette (9 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a small extras package for an amiable if minor Woody Allen film.] (S. Granger)