Loading ...
GreenCine Daily - ”The only parts of Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona that really and truly feel alive and crackling are the Spanish-language scenes between Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz,” writes Jeffrey Wells.
“These two, portraying a pair of identically tempestuous, self-obsessed painters whose marriage has fallen apart due to an overabundance of heat and impulse and Spanish vinegar, are dynamite together. They create spark showers when they rage and taunt and rekindle their mutual hunger.” The problem? A “persistent, obnoxious, unwanted and thoroughly unnecessary narration track… There were boos.”
But for Variety’s Todd McCarthy, VCB, as he calls it, is “a sexy, funny divertissement that passes as enjoyably as an idle summer’s afternoon in the titular Spanish city…. Just as London did when Allen went there for Match Point, the Catalan capital serves as an evident stimulus for the director. Even if the film provides a strictly tourist’s view of the city (a perspective justified by the scenario, in fact), and one just as upscale and heedless of money as ever for Allen, VCB is by several degrees more hot-blooded than his usual norm, thanks especially due to the palpable chemistry of Bardem and Cruz in the second half. The film is all about sexual attraction and what to do about it (and in what combinations).”… [Full Story]
