Woody Allen’s latest is a mixed bag.  It combines classic whimsy with gorgeous Continental scenery (many of his most recent films have been shot on location in Europe), typically Allenesque neurotic characters and a genuine interest in promoting romance and love.  If it were (much) more sharply written, it might qualify as one of Allen’s better films.  Unfortunately, that is not the case.

The characters are superficial Woody.  Several couples, or individuals who seem destined to become couples, arrive in Rome, hoping to discover or reawaken amore in the famous Italian city.  Most do, in one form or another, and the film definitely qualifies as a romantic comedy.  The comedy, however, is light.  Other than the plots involving Penelope Cruz as a very sexy call girl and the mortician (Fabio Armiliato) with the voice of an opera singer, there isn’t much comedic payoff.  It’s as though Allen was so intent on his message of “love one another, even if you are committed to someone else” that he neglected to develop the humanity in his characters.  In the Roman world of Allen’s imagination, marital conventions don’t matter very much, because Rome, like Paris in Midnight in Paris, is inspirational in matters of passion.

The film is, as one might expect, quite talky, overly plotted and musically quirky. Allen plays havoc with the time element, which proves decidedly distracting, as the various segments play out at different paces which might last between hours and weeks.  He also plays fast and loose with the Alec Baldwin / Jesse Eisenberg segment, although that eventually makes sense.  Allen himself appears in his first film since Scoop in 2006, but to little effect.  Judy Davis plays his wife, and they share no chemistry together at all, just a lot of quippage.

To Rome with Love (which was originally going to be titled The Bop Decameron  before Allen was persuaded that few people would recognize the reference) is not vintage Woody Allen in any way.  The only aspect I really enjoyed was the story involving the opera singer, which, eventually, was staged as classic absurdist show business that recalled Allen at his funniest.  The women are young and pretty, the dialogue somewhat steamy (although the R rating is for just one naughty word, as I recall), and the Italian scenery is, of course, phenomenal.  But anyone’s vacation there ought to be more energizing than this film.  ☆ ☆.  2 August 2012.