Woody Allen’s movies have evolved through the years but, while his latest ones have seen the famed director firmly behind the camera, his neurotic style is still pervasive.
In Vicky Cristina Barcelona his new muse, the sensual Scarlett Johansson, is paired with Rebecca Hall, and they both do a fine job of playing young American tourist friends who fall for the same guy, a brooding Javier Bardem.
The three are greatly supported by Patricia Clarkson, Chris Messina, and Penélope Cruz, who won the Oscar for her role. I was actually looking forward to watching this movie specifically to see her performance, as it won her many accolades, but was ultimately underwhelmed.
She’s good, very good, but Best Supporting Actress of the year? Not when you see who the other nominees were: Amy Adams and Viola Davis in Doubt, Taraji P. Henson in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler. I haven’t seen the latter, but Adams was great and both Davis and Henson were phenomenally good. I guess, as is often the case, that 2009 was Cruz’s year, and that the Oscar was hers to lose, for some mysterious reason known only to the wizards behind the curtains.
Now, I don’t mean to disparage Cruz in any way. She’s a talented actress and she turned in a good performance, albeit a bit too theatrical in my opinion. I’m just saying that, in my opinion, someone else deserved the Oscar more that year and didn’t get it. But that, alas, occurs more often than one would hope and the supporting acting categories are often used by the Academy to right a wrong (Judy Dench’s win being the most glaring example here) or to award foreigners, like in this case.
At any rate, the movie is good, with a solid script and interesting character interactions.
Grade: 7
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