Cannes 2010: 'You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger'

Woody Allen doesn't really go on holiday. He claims that he churns out one film after the other because he doesn't have that much else to do. Sadly, that means his quality control has wavered over the last few years, with 2005's Match Point being a real low point. Fortunately, his fourth London-shot project You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger is - if still very far from the peerless work of his heyday - a silly, funny film with much to like about it. It might struggle to accommodate its overflowing ensemble cast, but there's enough laughs spread out over the runtime to make it worth a look.

Sally (Naomi Watts) and husband Roy (Josh Brolin) are married but have problems with his reluctance to start a family as his writing career draws to an end after a promising start. Meanwhile, Sally's own mum and dad (Gemma Jones and Anthony Hopkins) split up, her mother seeing a psychic for solace while her father looks for endless youth through Lucy Punch's prostitute. The characters come thick and fast as Allen's script skips through something between drama and outright farce.

The cast is the main draw here, but it's also the movie's biggest problem. Hopkins and Jones are excellent, and a greater focus on that couple might well have resulted in a much better film. Antonio Banderas, Alex MacQueen, Ewen Bremner and Anna Friel are all underused, while Freida Pinto's red-clad Dia doesn't really do anything for the film. It's not profound stuff, and it's frequently absurd, but it's those daft moments that are a pleasing tonic after the humourlessness of some of Allen's recent work.



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