← Back to Reviews
in
Every now and then acclaimed directors of comedies and dramas venture into the movie musical genre and varying rates of success were achieved...Sidney Lumet really tripped up with The Wiz as did John Huston with Annie and Richard Attenborough with A Chorus Line Sir Carol Reed did yeomen service toOliver!, Milos Foreman triumphed with Hair and Norman Jewison did a decent job with Jesus Christ Superstar.
One director I never imagined making a musical was Woody Allen but even Woody ventured into this forbidden territory with 1996's Everyone Says I Love You, A sophisticated romp with the same kind of loopy characters Woody usually provides us with, except here, they do occasionally burst into song and dance, despite the fact that several of the cast members can't sing. I have to admit that I do like the fact that the Woodmiester chose to cast actors who fit the characters and not just actors who can sing and dance.
The film stars Goldie Hawn and Alan Alda as the head of an affluent upper west side family eagerly anticipating the wedding of her daughter and his stepdaughter (Drew Barrymore) to the heir apparent of another wealthy family (Edward Norton) who are thrown for a loop when Barrymore falls for an ex-con (Tim Roth) who Hawn has invited to their home for dinner as a gesture of bleeding heart liberalism. As always Woody blends multiple stories to great effect, the other primary one being Woody's role as Hawn's ex, whose daughter (Natasha Lyonne) has accidentally overheard a lot of information about a woman (Julia Roberts) who Woody meets in Paris and feeds him information about her in order to romance her.
I think Woody made a wise choice in not employing an original score and using classic old songs for the characters to sing and the actors do their own singing (except for Barrymore), which I think adds a touch of realism to the unexpected musical interludes. There is some imaginative choreography by Graciela Daniele with Norton and Lyonne's production number in a jewelry store being a stand out. There is also a dance number at the film's denoument with Woody and Goldie that can only be described as magical.
Musical numbers aside, Woody's screenplay is rich with the sophisticated wit we have come to expect from Woody, there's just a little less of it because of the musical numbers. Woody has always had exquisite taste in music, a key element in all of his films so I guess his journey into this genre shouldn't be completely unexpected, but, I think the results are pretty much a mixed bag and the film is suggested for hardcore Woody-philes only. 6.5/10
Every now and then acclaimed directors of comedies and dramas venture into the movie musical genre and varying rates of success were achieved...Sidney Lumet really tripped up with The Wiz as did John Huston with Annie and Richard Attenborough with A Chorus Line Sir Carol Reed did yeomen service toOliver!, Milos Foreman triumphed with Hair and Norman Jewison did a decent job with Jesus Christ Superstar.
One director I never imagined making a musical was Woody Allen but even Woody ventured into this forbidden territory with 1996's Everyone Says I Love You, A sophisticated romp with the same kind of loopy characters Woody usually provides us with, except here, they do occasionally burst into song and dance, despite the fact that several of the cast members can't sing. I have to admit that I do like the fact that the Woodmiester chose to cast actors who fit the characters and not just actors who can sing and dance.
The film stars Goldie Hawn and Alan Alda as the head of an affluent upper west side family eagerly anticipating the wedding of her daughter and his stepdaughter (Drew Barrymore) to the heir apparent of another wealthy family (Edward Norton) who are thrown for a loop when Barrymore falls for an ex-con (Tim Roth) who Hawn has invited to their home for dinner as a gesture of bleeding heart liberalism. As always Woody blends multiple stories to great effect, the other primary one being Woody's role as Hawn's ex, whose daughter (Natasha Lyonne) has accidentally overheard a lot of information about a woman (Julia Roberts) who Woody meets in Paris and feeds him information about her in order to romance her.
I think Woody made a wise choice in not employing an original score and using classic old songs for the characters to sing and the actors do their own singing (except for Barrymore), which I think adds a touch of realism to the unexpected musical interludes. There is some imaginative choreography by Graciela Daniele with Norton and Lyonne's production number in a jewelry store being a stand out. There is also a dance number at the film's denoument with Woody and Goldie that can only be described as magical.
Musical numbers aside, Woody's screenplay is rich with the sophisticated wit we have come to expect from Woody, there's just a little less of it because of the musical numbers. Woody has always had exquisite taste in music, a key element in all of his films so I guess his journey into this genre shouldn't be completely unexpected, but, I think the results are pretty much a mixed bag and the film is suggested for hardcore Woody-philes only. 6.5/10