Tags
2010's, Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas, Comedy, Drama, Freida Pinto, Gemma Jones, Josh Brolin, Lucy Punch, Naomi Watts, Pauline Collins, Woody Allen, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
Film Title
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
Director
Woody Allen
Starring
- Anthony Hopkins as Alfie
- Gemma Jones as Helena
- Naomi Watts as Sally
- Josh Brolin as Roy
- Antonio Banderas as Greg
- Lucy Punch as Charmaine
- Freida Pinto as Dia
- Pauline Collins as Cristal
Although there is wit and drama to be found, when watching You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, you can’t help but feel that Woody Allen has done better movies over the years. Sure he knows how to write some great characters and situations, but unfortunately this movie isn’t a shining example of his talent.
The film focuses on the tangled love lives and questions of fate within a family living in London. Firstly, we have Alfie who has had an epiphany that time is not on his side and that he needs to relive some of his lost youth. The first step to do this is to divorce his shocked wife Helena, who because of this becomes friendly with fake fortune-teller Cristal, who she begins to trust almost completely. Life then becomes besotted with the much younger Charmaine, who is a former call girl and gold digger. Alfie quickly marries her, but soon enough he looks like he may regret it as her money spending gets out of control and his bank balance plummets. Alfie and Helena’s daughter Sally works in an art gallery, hoping one day to open one of her own yet blighted by the fact that her husband Roy is a washed-up writer. Roy wallows in misery at a lack of inspiration because his first novel was a success, but he has failed to replicate it in the following years. He is currently awaiting the response to his latest submission, but the arrival of Helena talking of cosmic energy does nothing to quell his fears. He finds some form of solace in a growing attraction to Dia, a beautiful music student who lives in the apartment opposite. Sally has grown tired of Roy’s lack of success, moping around and wants to start her own family, which seems out of the question as Roy has no intention. While at work, she begins to develop feelings for her new boss Greg, yet she doesn’t know whether to act on them or not. Let’s just say, entanglements ensue.
While it must be said that Woody Allen still has the ear for dialogue, he isn’t on his finest form here leaving many of the stories feeling tired and exhausted. You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger isn’t completely terrible, it is actually quite good in parts. But I can’t help have the nagging feeling that Woody Allen can do so much better than this. One major problem I had with the film was that as certain stories seemed to get going, they were shoved to the back and not focused on a lot. This in turn made You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger a disjointed film, because some stories work a lot better than others and certain characters were more engaging than others. There are positives to the film to be found, despite the flaws that riddle the piece and make it one of his less accomplished efforts. I liked how the theme whether fates holds sway over lives and loves was presented, in the form of a charlatan fortune-teller whose predictions are often quite close to the truth. As is typical with a multi layered film, some parts of You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger work better than others. When it does work, the film has a gleefully ironic tone to it that is hard to miss. This is best summed up in the narration that has a mordant view of events and takes swipes at the misfortunes and romantic entanglements the characters find themselves in. A jaunty jazz soundtrack is used well enough to signify the changes in love that everyone goes through.
Anthony Hopkins is on good form(yet again, when he is not anything but excellent?) as Alfie, who thinks the grass is greener on the other side and is in for a rude awakening as it turns out to be not the bed of roses he expected. The delightful Gemma Jones is by turns funny and touching as his former wife, who takes to consulting supposedly clairvoyant forces for answers on her directions in life. Naomi Watts is splendidly overwrought as the frustrated Sally, while Josh Brolin, all scraggly hair and hangdog appearances is suitably pathetic and engulfed in self-pity as the washed-up Roy, desperately wanting success. The main standout within the cast for me is Lucy Punch as the trashy gold digger Charmaine. She helps provide some outrageous humour and crude appeal as Charmaine begins to fleece Alfie for every penny he’s got, despite not being the brightest person there is. Punch just has the necessary humour and attitude for the part that she clearly makes the most of. I myself found that Antonio Banderas and Freida Pinto were shortchanged with the material they were given. Both are talented stars, but the script just didn’t have enough flesh on the bones of either character for them to register with me. At least Pauline Collins, despite being only seen sporadically, is very amusing in the part of the fortune-teller who may actually be telling the truth.
With too many loose ends not tied up and some actors wasted in their respective parts, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger just lacks that extra spark that a lot of Allen’s work has. In the end, it resembles something akin to a mess that had potential but somehow squandered it.
Dan O. said:
Not Allen’s best, but still fine as is. Nice review.
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vinnieh said:
Definitely not his best, but it had some good bits. Good to hear from you man, how are you?
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beetleypete said:
One I haven’t seen yet, V. Thanks for the heads-up on this film mate. (I’m still rooting for his early work…)
Cheers, Pete.
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vinnieh said:
I recently purchased a box set of 20 of his movies, will be sure to give his early stuff a look.
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Lloyd Marken said:
The great thing about Allen is churns one out every year so even now every 4 or 5 years he strikes gold. Match Point was only 11 years ago and in that time we’ve had Vicky Cristy Barcelona and Midnight in Paris. Although I prefer his earlier and funnier films. 🙂 Sorry, couldn’t resist.
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vinnieh said:
He is definitely a talented a prolific director and writer. I don’t think it is possible for every one of his films to be a success, but when he really hits the mark, he does it with aplomb.
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By Hook Or By Book ~ Book Reviews, News, & Other Stuff said:
Sorry this didn’t work for you Vinnie.
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vinnieh said:
It was a shame that this movie was such a mess, considering the great cast. Oh well, Woody Allen can’t make every movie a masterpiece, that’s impossible to do.
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fragglerocking said:
Well V-man, I am enjoying your reviews of Woody Allen’s films and am going to confess I have not seen a single one of his apart from Annie Hall, which put me off forever I think. All your reviews mention a jaunty jazzy soundtrack, and I can’t stand jazz (jaunty or knackered) so I am even more put off and so glad I made the right decision. Thanks! 🙂
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fragglerocking said:
BTW don’t you think that in the poster Josh Brolin looks a lot like David Hasselhoff? 😀
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vinnieh said:
Haha, he does have a very similar hairstyle and in the film a similar personality.
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vinnieh said:
Thanks for reading and commenting, even if Allen’s movies aren’t your sort of thing. If you don’t like jazz I think all his movies tend to feature it so best avoid them if you have a loathing for the genre.
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Jordan Dodd said:
Hmmmmm… when I finally start my Woody marathon, I think I’ll leave this one off the list 😛
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vinnieh said:
I would definitely do that. And I very much
look forward to your Woody Allen marathon.
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Jordan Dodd said:
I’m saving up, I’m gonna buy a bunch of criterion blu-rays
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vinnieh said:
That’s sound like a cool idea.
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Jordan Dodd said:
I love physical copies man. I hate all this digital stuff, I prefer my bookcase of DVDs and blurays 😀
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vinnieh said:
I know what you mean. Digital is good sometimes, but there is something about having a DVD that is special.
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Cici said:
The title scared me before I even read the review. Sounds like the beginning of a thriller where a lady is murdered after a date that ended in a night cap. The movie will be about an investigation about a serial killer who kills his dates!
Even if this was a good movie I doubt I would watch it, not my cup of tea. Not enough blood and screams! Might have to accept that am a bit sadistic after that comment. 😛
Awesome review.
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vinnieh said:
Haha, your comment just made my day. I can see why you would think that about the title, it does have something mysterious about it.
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Cici said:
😛 Its just creepy!
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vinnieh said:
Even though I knew it was a Woody Allen movie, I did get the creepy thriller vibe from the title.
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alexraphael said:
Pity. Well observed review though dude.
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vinnieh said:
Even if I don’t like a movie, I try to at least write my thoughts in an interesting and descriptive way.
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alexraphael said:
One of many reasons you have such a big fan club.
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vinnieh said:
Thanks for that nice comment Alex.
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abbiosbiston said:
I sometimes think Woody Allen needs to slow down and not explore literally every idea that enters his head.
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vinnieh said:
That would be beneficial to him I think. When he’s really on fire, his work is amazing. When his work is sub par, it is really reflected in the material.
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emmakwall said:
Glad to see you’re still watching the Woody Allen movies. Excellent review as ever!
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vinnieh said:
I’m really enjoying going through them Emma, and you can expect a good few more.
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Annelise Lestrange said:
I’m not surprised lol Despite being a journalist, I never been able to like Woody Allen’s works, haha! I’m too blockbuster for him 🙂
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vinnieh said:
Too blockbuster for him, I like that analogy.
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Annelise Lestrange said:
Haha, thank you 😀
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ozflicks said:
Hi Vinnieh, A late comment for you as promised.
Don’t be embarrassed about not liking this. I think I’ve seen all his films over the last 40 years and this is the worst in my opinion. It’s a dull mess, and I say that as a lover of Woody’s films. He wastes such good actors with a bad script. It’s not even funny. And it’s not just my opinion. I’ve looked at recent rankings of Woody films from the following sources (Entertainment Weekly, The Telegraph (UK), Time Out, Playlist, Fansided, Nerve, Little White Lies and even IMDB Users), put them on a spreadsheet and this movie comes out last!
The new millenium has not been good for Woody, all of the nine bottom movies on the rankings were made after 2000. Here they are, FYI
38. Hollywood Ending (2002)
39. Melinda and Melinda (2004)
40. Scoop (2006)
41. Cassandra’s Dream (2007)
42. The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001)
43. Whatever Works (2009)
44. Anything Else (2003)
45. To Rome with Love (2012)
46. You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010)
That said, even in this barren patch, he can come up with gems like Midnight in Paris and Blue Jasmine so there’s still hope.
Cheers, Peter
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vinnieh said:
Thanks for your extensive comment. I’m eager to discover so much more in cinema. You’re very interesting to talk to.
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