Woody Allen has always been preoccupied with sex, unrequited love and the dangerous pitfalls in relationships, but he's always had compelling characters and stories on which those preoccupations have thrived. His latest film, "Vicki Cristina Barcelona," is a romantic comedy of sorts (although not entirely funny or romantic), that's party guilty pleasure, part love letter to Barcelona and part monograph on monogomy. What it isn't, however, is compelling.
"Vicki Cristina Barcelona" starts off on a bad note: a monotone voice-over narration that signals to the audience that Allen, who wrote and directed the movie, is being lazy. We meet Vicki (Rebecca Hall), an uptight, studious young woman whose life is more or less set in stone. Her career path is set, she's engaged to be married and has no desire to deviate from the future she's set for herself. Vicki is spending her summer in Barcelona with her long-time friend Cristina (Scarlett Johansson), a loose, uninhibited young woman who seems to share nothing in common with her best friend other than a chromosome. How these two opposites, who adhere to divergent philosophies on life and romance, became good friends is difficult to explain.
Vicki and Cristina are staying in the home of a family friend, and their time in Barcelona is filled with good food, good wine and sight-seeing. One evening, at an art gallery, Cristina catches the eye of Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), a tall, dark and handsome painter. Later that evening, Antonio approaches Vicki and Cristina, who are in the middle of dinner, and invite them both to a romantic getaway. His intentions are spelled out clearly: good food, good times, good sex.
For the first two thirds of "Vicki Cristina Barcelona," the two young women contend with Antonio's advances, Cristina eager to jump into bed with him, Vicki just as eager not to. In these opening acts the people onscreen have a lot to do with how interesting the action is. Bardem, for his part, is wonderful to watch. His Antonio is sensual, honest, comfortable with himself. Hall is dull at first, but becomes more interesting as her personality, stereotypically written by Allen, becomes more three-dimensional. Least impressive is Johansson, who seems in way over her head. Where Antonio's sensuality seems rooted and organic, Cristina's seems forced and synthetic.
Only in the final act does "Vicki Cristina Barcelona" find itself, with the introduction of Antonio's passionate ex-wife Maria Elena (Penélope Cruz). Cruz is so convincing, so wild and so overflowing with sexuality that she almost overshadows the limp performances of Hall and Johansson.
If only the movie had been called "Antonio Maria Elena" instead of "Vicki Cristina Barcelona."
** 1/2 out of ****
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