To Rome with Love – movie review

To Rome with Love – movie review

Firstly I must declare that when I watched this, I thought of a friend, who goes by the nickname of WEB, yes you bro, when  I saw this show.

Woody Allen is famous for using foreign locales for his shows, and he adds a sterling cast to the main protagonist in this movie: Rome.

This is a romantic comedy, and it’s set in the perfect city for such a yarn. The city has a real old world charm, and is the venue for the intertwining lives of 4 couples, and brace of other characters, as we observe their lives in this city.

We have a visiting girl who falls in love with not only the city, but a Roman, and his parents, including his father who just happens to sing beautifully in the shower. Then there are the girl’s parents, and Alec Baldwin, who plays this architect that bumps into a young American, who just happens to be staying at where he was too, many years ago when he was young.

The young man stays with his girlfriend, and they are happily in love, that is, until her girlfriend’s good friend turns up and she is strange, exotic and hot, all at the same time…

Next, there is a young Italian couple who comes to Rome for their honeymoon, and also to look for a job with his uppity relatives. He is shy and reserved, like a typical image of what we think an engineer is, and his wife, who on the surface is a Madonna, but in reality has plenty of repressed sexual urges. They both get into interesting situations with members of the opposite sex, all in a single afternoon.

Finally there is the average Italian family with Mr Leopoldo, who plays a middle class and we are told he is the epitome of boring, and staid. His life is turned upside down when he is suddenly transformed into a celebrity.

In between we have Woody and Judy Davis playing the young American girl’s parents, and Woody applies his directing and creative touch to this to spin a yarn about love, fidelity, opera and repressed desires.

Does each one of them get what they want? Well you have to watch the movie to find out, and I have no spoilers here for you.

The plot is relatively simple, yet with enough twists to get you involved. There are plenty of trysts, but no R-rated actual action is seen. The humor is very Woody which can polarize you into those are fans, and those who aren’t too fond of his brand of humor. Think Mighty Aphrodite, or even the recent Night in Paris movie for an idea of what the flavor is like.

I am not too fond of the infidelity on display, but others may see it as part of the plot.

There is plenty of good chemistry and a very nice mixture of young and older talent on display, and their work very well together to form a good yarn with many good scenes of Rome in the background, enough I dare say to make one feel like getting onto a plane right away bound for Rome. I dare say that this movie will work better than anything the tourist promotion board of Rome can conjure up.

There is no action, such is the genre, but the chick factor is high, and the curvy and hot Penelope Cruz plays a prostitute with great aplomb, and there is plenty of other eye candy around. The dialogue is snappy, albeit half in Italian, but it’s easy enough to follow.

If you are a fan of Woody’s work, this is a keeper, but if you are a casual viewer, it is still worth a rental to see if you like his style.

I have no financial interest or other interests in any of the items / events I write about.