Vicky Cristina Barcelona Reviews

[Highly rated reviewer]

Woody Allen's best film in years

After a spate of rather lack lustre films from Woody Allen’s comes this little gem. Great dialogue, with many laugh out loud lines delivered buy some stand-out performances from Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and our own Rebecca Hall, masterful direction of Mr Allen. I loved it and it was wonderful surprise.

[Highly rated reviewer]

VCB

Pointless and lame plot leading nowhere. Hardly a laugh in it, inane rubbish. Worst film I've seen in ages.

[Highly rated reviewer]

The man writes a review

A title to tell you I'm writing a review? No need for that, of course. However, the narration of Vicky Christina Barcelona offered nothing more inciteful of the scenes in the film. As Vicky and Christina take a walk in the evening we are told 'Vicky and Christina take a walk in the evening'. I wondered if I'd sat down to the blind screening.

Sadly, the opening half of the film did nothing to take my mind off this continuing irritation. Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall offer passable performances but have little impact. Javier Bardem is convincing as the lothario responsible for the ensuing romatic twists. However, the pace is dramatically lifted with the arrival of Penelope Cruz who offers an electrifying performance of deservedly oscar quality. It's as if she takes on a single handed crusade to turn what is emerging as a lightweight bit of cinema fodder into a serious venture. More of her would have made the experience bearable but in the end the simplistic plot and daft voiceover put me off recommending it or wishing to sit through it again, despite Cruz's efforts.

[Highly rated reviewer]

A little piece of Manhattan in the south of Spain

The story follows bland, but bearable American tourists, Vicky and Christina, and their summer holiday to liberal Catalonian Barcelona. As this is a Woody Allen film, they stay in a huge villa in the beautiful mountains near Barcelona (complete with servants), don’t get anywhere near a day’s work and socialise with wealthy city types and liberal artistic Europeans. It’s a little piece of Manhattan in the south of Spain. Through these social circles the girls meet the charismatic artist Javier Bardem and his frantic ex-wife played by Penelope Cruz. The ensuing film concerns the girls and their love triangle, or should that be love square, with Javier Bardem and his beautiful, if unstable ex-wife.

All sounds like a usual Woody Allen film with trademark average performances, along with portentous dialogue about love, life and its meanings. However, Javier Bardem and the Oscar winning Penelope Cruz really separate this from the majority of Allen’s previous work and definitely make it worth a watch. The emotive Spanish guitar soundtrack, witty dialogue that doesn’t get too pseudo intellectual and beautiful Catalan landscapes, make sure this is a return to form from Woody Allen, although not an entirely memorable one.

Amazing

Brilliant film i loved it, fast moving, interesting and emotional, i really recommend watching it.

Excellent!

The movie is briliant, excellent dialogues, beautiful places of Barcelona. Penelepe really shines and she surely deserves Oscar for this. The movie keeps your attention from the very beginning until the end.

poor

I really did not see what all the fuss was about. It always bugs me when trailers try to sell a movie as something it is not quite.

The years funniest comedy? No, I may have smirked once or twice, but this is not a 'comed'y.

If you like woody allen movies, and the stars involved (who do act well) youll likely to enjoy, but if you are decidng to view based on how it was sold on the trailer, you may be dissapointed.

And, if I wanted to spend a couple of hours listening to a woman scream and moan histerically at a member of the opposite sex, I would simply have gone round the in-laws and saved the rental fee ;-)

Well deserved hype!

I'm not a Woody Allen fan. I have seen a few of his films, which I thought were too verbose and intellectually pretentious.

But this, his latest is nothing like his previous work.This film explores the incredibly complicated dynamics of a relationship involving one man and three women. It's dark in parts but manages to stay balanced with many funny and breezily light scenes and dialogue (not in a ha-ha kind of way as one of the reviewers expected it to be).It looks at how emotionally damaged people interact in search for love and completeness. This film is like peeling back the layers of an onion, the viewer keeps being drawn in to something interesting and learning something more. Essentially this movie takes the viewer on a journey and it's a really vivid, colourful and passionate one, just like the city Barcelona .The only thing I would fault is the limpily unoriginal movie title.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Not good.

Drivel. No plot. The narration is pointless. A US view of Bohemian Europe.

[Highly rated reviewer]

ONE FOR THE LADIES!

People keep saying how good Allen is (can be?) and that this was a 'return to form'. Well I'd hate to suffer one of his 'flops'! Whilst beautifully cinematic with a very strong romantic enchantment, the only reason I stuck with it to the end was the performance of Bardem. As with 'No Country For Old Men', he is the best thing in this by far. I don't get Johansson's appeal either and, other than a quick glance at her tits, she did nothing for me. Cruz is always reliable, but 'Best Supporting Oscar'? Again, other than a quick side shot of her right tit, she did nothing to excite me.