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Pick of the Week: Everyone Says I Love YouLength: 101 minutes MPAA: R for one use of strong language I loved the Woody Allen musical comedy Everyone Says I Love You on the big screen a few years back, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out it was released on DVD a couple of weeks ago. This gave me the opportunity of giving the movie another look to see if it really was as magical as I had remembered. Everyone Says I Love You is Allen’s imaginative, modern take on classic film musicals. He combines sensibilities of the musicals of the 30s and 40s--including old standards sung by the cast members (except for Drew Barrymore, whose singing voice is dubbed)--with a story set in the 1990s. Absurd as it may seem, Allen somehow manages to seamlessly blend his trademark angst with the feeling of make-believe of the old musicals. What makes Everyone Says I Love You work is what made the classic musicals work--more than anything else they’re about a lighter-than-air feeling of enchantment. A Valentine to New York The movie opens with a stunning sequence of shots on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. It’s springtime, and we meet the first in a series of romantically challenged couples as Holden (Edward Norton) sings "Just You, Just Me" to Skylar (Drew Barrymore) in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Then three nannies pushing baby carriages down the street join in the singing, soon to be followed in song by an elderly lady walking along with her caregiver, then a panhandler, and eventually even the mannequins in an Yves Saint Laurent display begin to dance to the music.
An Atypical Family DJ goes on to explain that "If Dad’s a liberal Democrat, then you’d have to say that Mom is the one thing more extreme. She’s a guilty liberal Democrat." And we soon see DJ’s mother Steffi in full-tilt socialite mode throwing a chic affair to help the New York Philharmonic. Providing the music for this little gathering is none other than Itzhak Perlman, who plays "Just You, Just Me" on his violin.
It’s Hard to Decide How to Commit Suicide Steffi rides her ex-husband about being too indecisive a man to be able to commit suicide, "You couldn’t figure out whether you wanted to be a psychoanalyst or a writer." But Joe responds, "So I compromised. I became a writer and a patient." A Diamond for Dessert Later, at a romantic dinner at Le Cirque, Holden puts the ring in the whipped cream atop a peach parfait, and Skylar wolfs it all down. She’s rushed to the hospital, where after looking at an X-ray showing the ring lodged inside Skylar, the doctor tells Holden he could have got the ring for him for only $6,000. Then the doctor starts singing "Makin’ Whoopee" and soon nurses and patients--some of whom are bandaged or in wheelchairs--join in the exuberant song-and-dance number. A Valentine to Venice But soon Joe sees a gorgeous woman (Julia Roberts), and he’s instantly smitten. Joe knows nothing about the woman, but as luck would have it, DJ knows a lot about her because DJ used to eavesdrop on the woman’s sessions with her shrink back in New York. DJ tells Joe that the woman, whose name is Von, is unhappily married and that she’s an art historian who’s come to Venice to see the Tintorettos. Based on what DJ has overheard during Von’s therapy sessions, she gives her dad a quick primer on what Von finds irresistible in a man. In spite of the fact that Joe looks like--well like Woody Allen, he sets out to sweep the beautiful Von off her feet. Joe goes to the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, where there are dozens of paintings by Tintoretto, and not surprisingly runs into Von there. Joe tells her he’s a writer, and she replies that she’s seen one of his books at a 99-cent stall, but he brushes past this by claiming that was only a "get-acquainted" price. Before long, Von and Joe are sitting on the steps of a palazzo at the edge of the Grand Canal, and Julia Roberts delivers a wistful rendition of the song "All My Life." DJ’s insider information on Von’s innermost thoughts seems to be paying off for Joe. He’s transformed himself into her fantasy of the perfect man, and in spite of how implausible it seems, this is the world of movie make-believe, and it’s clear that Von is falling fast. Eventually, Von leaves her husband and goes to live with Joe in Paris. The Ex-Con
at Steffi’s Birthday Party Steffi has a birthday party in October, and she invites Charles Ferry (Tim Roth), a convict whose cause she has championed. He’s just out of prison, and his presence at the party leads to some hilarious moments, one of which is when he joins Skylar on the balcony. They talk, then kiss, and she gushes, "I’ve never been kissed by a sociopath before." They kiss some more, and Roth sings "If I Had You." It’s a scene both wildly romantic and utterly ridiculous, and I loved it! Later, as a slapstick game of hockey is being played in the background, Skylar tells her mother and father she’s not going to marry Holden because she’s now in love with the ex-convict Ferry. Bob loses his cool and declares, "Thou shalt wed thy intended!" to which Steffi retorts, "You’re sounding tiresomely Biblical." "What is this?" grumbles Bob, "Noel Coward with hockey?" A Danse Macabre A Valentine to Paris Steffi tries to console Joe by asking him to a party that evening, but Joe is feeling depressed and declines, telling her, "Instead I have plans to go to Napoleon’s Tomb. I’m gonna lie down next to him." But eventually he changes his mind, and they go to the party, where everyone is dressed like Groucho Marx. Steffi and Joe talk, quoting old Groucho lines, and they leave the party for a while and walk to the Seine. There Goldie Hawn reprises "I’m Through with Love" in a wonderful, tenderly lyrical scene. After Steffi and Joe dance, they sit near the river’s edge and discuss how they value the friendship they’ve been able to maintain over the years, even if their marriage didn’t work out. Steffi and Joe return to the party, where DJ announces she’s met a terrific guy, who turns out to be dressed like Harpo. While entertaining the possibility that the wild, wacky lives of the members of her family might make a good movie, DJ is forced to conclude, "Better make it a musical or no one will believe it."
Lots of Laughs and Some Memorable Tunes |
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