Like shipwrecked sailors awaiting the return of the hero sent for help, comedy-deprived moviegoers are desperate for the return of the old Woody Allen, the one who made them laugh. Each new Allen film is frantically examined as soon as it appears on the horizon: "Is that him? Is he back? Please, God, let him be back."
This frenetic searching has been going on for so long that Allen spoofed it in 1980's "Stardust Memories," having aliens from outer space yearn for "the early, funny ones." But as much as we'd like it to be true and despite what you may have heard, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" is not the return of Woody Allen. Elvis has truly left the building and, judging by appearances, he's not coming back.
That's not to say that this story of naive Americans (Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall) facing off against oh-so-sophisticated Europeans (Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz) is completely lacking in pleasures, particularly the strong performances of the matched pair of Spaniards. Truly, the current comedy desert is so parched of adult fare that being no more than amusing around the edges is better than the usual sharp stick in the eye offered by typical summer comedy.
The problem, however, is that despite promising elements, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" is too intent on being taken seriously to be more than mildly diverting. Allen said in interviews that this was a film about relationships, not a comedy, and he was not being falsely modest.
Yes, some of Allen's best work bridges that gap, but "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" has neither the humor nor the insights to captivate. Despite its focus on the romantic entanglements of innocents abroad, it is not only not Henry James, it doesn't even rise to the level of Henry James Lite.
We are introduced to Vicky and Cristina, close friends since college, as they are introduced to Barcelona, arriving at the airport to spend the summer with one of Vicky's distant relatives (a squandered Patricia Clarkson). As they take a taxi into the city, the film's soon-to-be-tedious Christopher Evan Welch voice-over fills us in on their personal details.
Vicky (Hall) is the more grounded and realistic of the friends. Working on a master's on Catalan identity (which she is pursuing despite knowing little Spanish), Vicky is engaged to be married to Wall Street drone Doug (Chris Messina) and believes in what the voice-over calls "the beauty of commitment."
