You will meet a tall dark stranger

You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger

Call me obsessive. It is a fact. I was working on a presentation for my book club and preparing for 6 guests the next day for lunch. I managed to fit this film into a tight schedule because I am a big fan of Woody Allen. He wrote and directed the film. I think he is a creative genius. I have seen all of his films. It is true that some are better than others but his latest puts him right back on the road to success. It is vintage Woody Allen and I loved every second.

Every character in the film is in crisis but it is not depressing or a downer. In fact I had a smile on my face throughout.

Helena gets dumped by her husband Alfie. Alfie is played by Anthony Hopkins and this certainly is a different type of role for him. He is delightful. Alfie wsnts to regain his youth He takes up with a real floozy who is much younger than his daughter. She dresses in very controversial attire and obviously is out for what she can get. She spends his money big time and poor Alfie is not as happy as he would like to be. It was hysterical to see Alfie at a dance hall with his lady. She is in skin tight and skin showing clothes. He has a wool vest and a jacket. A young man asks her to dance and what a dance it was. Poor Alfie looked so forlorn.

Helena also has her problems. After being dumped by Alfie she took up with a clairvoyant ( a real fraudster) and didn’t make a move or decision without consulting this silly fortune teller. She also became a real pest when she kept barging in on her daughter, Sally ( Naomi,I Watts), and husband Roy.(Josh Brolin)

Sally and Roy are also having problems. Roy’s book is just not coming together and they re living off money from Helena. Sally is so frustrated because she wants to open a gallery of her own and doesn’t have the money. She currently is employed by an art gallery. The owner is played by the very handsome Antonio Banderas. Sally has her eye on her boss. Roy has his eye on the beautiful girl who moved into an apt across the alley.

Nobody is satisfied and it is like a game of musical chairs. Everyone keeps looking for happiness in a different direction only to find that things are not working.

It is a first rate cast. In typical Woody Allen fashion there is a lot of voice over. It is as if the speaker is talking to you personally in the audience. I love it. The music is also so appropriate . When You Wish Upon a Star plays at the end and so appropriately tells the theme of the film.

There are antics throughout and it is rollicking good fun. At the same time I did have some pity for the pathetic characters who couldn’t be satisfied with what they had and thought the fields looked greener elsewhere.

Well done Woody Allen.