Publisher: CinemaSerf November 27, 2024
This is one of those internecine familial dramas that at times is really quite preposterous, but is also quite observationally funny. First, there's "Joe" (Woody Allen) who used to be married to "Steffi" (Goldie Hawn) who is now married to "Bob" (Alan Alda). She has two daughters by her second marriage and he one son by his first - a entertainingly died-in-the-wool republican in this nest of liberalism! Then there's "Holden" (Edward Norton) and "Skylar" (Drew Barrymore) madly in love, but unable to afford a $50,000 wedding ring and pretty useless when it comes to anything romantic. Meantime, "Joe" is living in Paris and reeling from his latest emotional setback with a considerably younger woman, so he comes to visit his other family only to bump into the married "Von" (Julia Roberts) whilst she is out jogging, and... As the threads start to knit quite amiably here, we are introduced to the star of the film - for me, anyway - and that's Tim Roth as the obviously lecherous ex-con "Ferry". He is invited by the kindly "Bob" for a rehabilitative dinner only to fall for "Skylar" and offer her a life that's maybe less staid than that offered by the unimaginative "Holden". It's all pieced together using some musical numbers that gives just about everyone to sing and for Norton to show us he can master a dance step or two, too. The writing has a certain potency to it, and though there is a certain distastefulness about the relationship between "Joe" and just about all of the (always younger) women in his life, that starts to morph into something rather pitiable as his character strives constantly for the happiness, or a least contentedness, he sees around him. Allen is largely just the same old, same old here but Hawn can certainly hold a tune together and is in her element here, as is an on-form Alda and a Barrymore who works well as a foil to the increasingly daft antics of her criminal buddy who thinks nothing of embroiling her in his smash and grab activities. It's short and sweet with plenty of characters to like, loathe and laugh at and I did quite enjoy it.