I’m not exactly sure what to make of Woody Allen’s newest movie.  It is a pointedly sharp character study of a woman (the Jasmine of the title, Cate Blanchett) who is in desperate need of counseling, therapy, attention and money.  She is a non-stop talker — what one might refer to as a flibbertigibbit — who depresses everyone with whom she comes in contact; a selfish, vain, egotistical woman who thinks of little but herself.  And yet Allen somehow makes her sympathetic.

The movie bounces back and forth across time, as Jasmine experiences moments of wealthy happiness with husband Alec Baldwin and moments of comic misery (fending off the unwanted advances of dentist Michael Stuhlbarg).  She intrudes upon the life of her sister (Sally Hawkins) and misleads a romantically-minded politician (Peter Sarsgaard).  She’s a mess, and doesn’t seem to realize the trouble she brings to just about everyone else in the story.

It is difficult to like a movie with a main character such as this, and to be frank, I did not like Blue Jasmine.  In terms of the Woody Allen oeuvre this felt like a return to the 1980s with its return to the old East Coast / West Coast and rich / poor themes.  I didn’t feel like it had much to say that was original or fresh.  It wasn’t even particularly enjoyable, as so many of Allen’s tightly-written comedies are.  It’s nice to see Blanchett dig into a role again, and people like Andrew Dice Clay, Hawkins and Bobby Cannavale do some decent character work.  And the ending seems entirely appropriate.  Yet I wonder if it was worth the time and thought I devoted to it, and I cannot wholeheartedly recommend it.  ☆ ☆ 1/2.  26 September 2013.