FREE: To Rome With Love (2012)

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5.0 out of 5 stars great Woody Allen film, set in Rome,
Amazon Review By audrey 12/31/2013
Woody Allen is so underappreciated in this country. I don't understand it. And now people who criticized him for always filming in New York are complaining that he is filming in Europe too much. Geez! Personally, I've been thoroughly enjoying the auteur's international jaunts. I think the new settings have given him a new spark, and he's found some young actors he enjoys working with. In this outing we have several storylines set in Rome. (They do not converge, which is maybe less magical, but also less contrived.) A newly married couple get separated on their first day in Rome and each has an adventure which involves sexual fidelity. Penelope Cruz looks gorgeous and there are many funny situations. In another thread, Jesse Eisenberg (playing a young Woody-like character) lives with one woman but is attracted to her friend, all the while Alec Baldwin is giving him relationship advice. This was a lot of fun. In another scenario, Woody Allen himself plays a retired opera producer who discovers his daughter's future father-in-law is a virtuoso tenor -- but only when he sings in the shower. Normally I would be nonplussed by a plot lifted from a Flintstones episode, but Allen makes it work. The fourth plotline revolves around Roberto Benigni's normal guy who is suddenly famous for no apparent reason. The story deals with how he handles fame and the loss of privacy.
I enjoyed all four of these stories. I thought all the actors were great and the dialogue was very enjoyable. I believe Woody Allen's trips to Europe have reinvigorated his storytelling, and though I enjoy all his movies, I think "Midnight in Paris" and "To Rome With Love" represent a new peak for this undervalued director.
If you like Allen, and you enjoyed Midnight in Paris, there is a good chance you will like this movie, which also stars a beautiful city called Rome. Lovely.