Movie Review: To Rome With Love **1/2

I like about half of Woody Allen's films (but see them all) and To Rome With Love is going to have to go in the half I'm not crazy about. It's an odd story, which can work, but this is all over the place with different story lines and no acknowledgement of time, so we're not quite sure what's happening when. Some things seem to be taking place in one day but as we move from story to story there are things that couldn't happen in a year much less a day. It's all very confusing. And some very goofy story lines, like the opera singer who can only sing in the shower so Woody Allen's character produces operas where he appears on stage in a shower stall and all the action happens around him. The audience laughed at this but I just rolled my eyes and looked at my watch. Too silly for me.
And then there's the guy, a simple businessman, who is suddenly and inexplicably famous with paparazzi following him everywhere, asking what he eats for breakfast and if he wears boxers or briefs. And then suddenly his fame disappears and he doesn't know how to live without it. This must be a metaphor for Woody Allen's life, altho I don't see how.
The film has its good parts; one being Alec Baldwin as a famous architect who runs into Jesse Eisenberg's character and then becomes his alter-ego giving him relationship advice. He has some of the funniest lines and for all his craziness Alec Baldwin is one of my favorite actors.
Another good thing is the photography - how can you lose when shooting in one of the most beautiful cities in the world?
I always love Woody Allen's ensemble casts and his whiny Jewish humor, even if it's a little redundant by now. And it's all here, just not quite the way I want it to be.
But maybe next year's film will be more to my liking.
P.S. I love that all these years, for every single film, he has used the same font and style for the credits; always white type on a black background. Simple. I'm not sure why I like that so much but I do.