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The ineffective voiceover is only of the many flaws in Woody Allen's latest, a film that could've worked as a delightful, sexy and insightful examination of relationships, and manages to not work as any of these things. Vicky Cristina Barcelona has TWO positive things going for it, both of which are almost great enough to counteract the mediocrity: 1) the awesomely beautiful shots of Spain, and 2) Penelope Cruz's supporting performance. The first of these two is a constant throughout the film, but the latter doesn't emerge till about halfway through the film, when Maria Elena (Cruz) enters the scene. It's too bad because the film may have actually had a chance at being good had this character been its focus. Cruz is at times hilarious and at times heartbreaking, and doesn't miss a beat. But her great work is accompanied by so-so performances, given by actors all of whom have given far better performances in other films (most notably Javier Bardem and Scarlett Johansson).
It's a risky decision for a filmmaker to choose to have a voiceover to provide narration over the course of his/her film; I think it's the kind of thing that can either work wonderfully or catastrophically. Last year, I was surprised with how well it worked in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. It was less effective in Into the Wild, a film that is very good, but could've been magnificent had Sean Penn not elected to jam his viewpoints down our throats with the voiceover given by none other than Jena Malone's annoying voice. A great recent example is the voiceover used in Little Children, which was a magnificent tool that truly got us to understand the characters; it was perfectly synchronized with facial reactions and situations to give us a full emotional grasp of what was happening. That is the exact opposite of what happens in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and what's worse is that you realize this from the very beginning: the voiceover informs us of the reasons why our protagonists, Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) have come to the Spanish city of Barcelona, and it also makes sure to inform us of their completely opposite views on love and relationships... only to have both of them soon discuss the reasons why they're in Barcelona, and only to have their words and actions throughout the film serve as enough to let us realize each woman's philosophy on love. So, not only is the voiceover detrimental, distracting and bothersome, but worst of all, it's completely unnecessary. You can't help but feel that Allen didn't think the viewer would be smart enough to realize these things and that we needed to receive the information like that, which is a bit insulting. I've never thought of Allen as being a pretentious filmmaker/screenwriter. Yes, he likes to examine pretentiousness in his films, but that doesn't make him pretentious. But this leads me to wonder.
There's quite an amount of moments in which it becomes evident that this movie is less an exploration of philosophies on love/relationships and more a statement of "everything European is great and edgy and awesome, while everything American is lame and undesirable". This is stated bluntly during (you guessed it) a voiceover during which Cristina is on a bicycle and we're informed that she has undergone a transition from the American "purist" approach to the European "free-thinking" approach, and it is even more obvious during a scene in which Vicky and her fiance have dinner with another American couple and the conversation centers around their obsession with how up-to-date they are on the technology of their satellite dish, etc. Okay, we get it, you're biased and you think all Americans are lacking intellect and are obsessed with material things, and you think the opposite of all Europeans. I don't care about whether someone has stereotypical views on something, because that's their problem, but what does bother me is when we are led on to believe that a film is going to be an insightful exploration of romantic interactions, and we instead get a blatant sermon (which would've been blatant enough without the voiceover, but the voiceover just makes it that much worse).
There are some ways in which I'm at a loss as to what to say about this film, because for example, the moment involving the kiss between Cristina and Maria Elena (told by Cristina, as a memory) comes off as being a very inauthentic moment (and those looking to get any sort of erotic pleasure from it will be disappointed, as it is a very short, uneventful moment). BUT the moment in which Cristina confronts Maria Elena and Juan Antonio about her dissatisfaction with their three-way relationship works very well. Perhaps it's because Cruz does such a good job in this scene, and perhaps I also feel like this because I speak Spanish and was able to understand what she was saying without needing the subtitles. If there's one thing that saves this film from being disastrous, it is Cruz. After watching both this and Volver, I have no doubt that she should stick to movies in which she's in her native element because she handles the material wonderfully.
The other performances are somewhat disappointing. Bardem and Johansson have given dozens upon dozens of better performances than what they offer us here. Rebecca Hall's work ranges from mostly so-so to laughably bad in a few select scenes. Patricia Clarkson is mostly underused, which is okay during the first two thirds of the film when her character is not particularly significant, but it is NOT okay towards the end of the film when her character suddenly becomes crucial to certain plot elements (a transition that definitely happens in a jarring way, too).
Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a surprisingly simplistic film, which is far from what can be said of so many of Allen's previous efforts. Three years ago, he came up with the absolutely brilliant Match Point, and yes, "brilliant" is right - that film's script paid such great attention to so many nuances and was crafted so intelligently that it's hard to believe we're talking about the same screenwriter. One thing I did appreciate in Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a moment in which Johansson's character utters the phrase "unless you blow it," which fans of Match Point will immediately recognize. The only difference is that in the 2005 film, the line is uttered seriously, and it is a pivotal line, as it marks one of the many things that will lead to the adulterous affair that lies at the center of that film's plot, whereas in this film, it is uttered in a lighthearted moment, which makes sense. A year after Match Point, Allen came up with the very lame Scoop. (Also, Allen did a movie titled Cassandra's Dream recently, but I didn't see that) At least Vicky Cristina Barcelona doesn't sink to the level of lameness of Scoop, but unfortunately, it is still a mediocre film. When Match Point was released, many believed that the director/screenwriter should move to Europe permanently, as it seemed perhaps his films would become much better. But watching Vicky Cristina Barcelona, it's hard not to think that perhaps his stay on that continent has led him to adopt this clearly biased philosophy that, as I mentioned, he is clearly hiding under this film's ostensible label as a film that explores the dynamics of love. Though the visuals are wonderful and Cruz is excellent, this is a mostly uninsightful and disappointing motion picture. There's no question in my mind that it could've been a lot better.
5/10
