As a long-time Woody Allen fan, I have a hard time admitting this, but the Woodman's films have been more than a little disappointing of late. Back in the day (say, the 70s), a bad Allen film would be an aberration ("Interiors" comes to mind but even that has its fans). Nowadays, we have to contend with new locations (London? Really?), rehashed plots (even
"Match Point" had been done better by Woody himself in "Crimes and Misdemeanors"), and his unhealthy (though not entirely un-understandble) obsession with Scarlett Johansson. The buxom actress is happily absent from Mr. Allen's latest - she's replaced with newcomer Hayley Atwell, who has a genuine British accent. But "Cassandra's Dream" still represents another in a string of disappointments from the once-reliable New York auteur.
In "Dream", Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor play Terry and Ian, two cockney brothers with dreams of escaping their dreary blue-collar existence. Terry works at a garage servicing exotic cars, while Ian toils away at their father's diner. Where Mr. Allen's previous UK-based entries have dealt with the British upper crust, "Dream" gets down-and-dirty. Terry likes his gambling, and Ian is constantly borrowing money to impress his new actress girlfriend (Ms. Atwell). When a string of bad luck (natch) puts the brothers in need of fast cash, enter Howard (Tom Wilkinson), the family's rich Uncle. Ol' Uncle Howard has some dark secrets of his own that bring the brothers to one of those Allen-esque moral crossroads. At this point, they spend a lot of screentime debating what to do, and as a result the audience starts to wish they would quit bickering and make a decision.
As always, Mr. Allen's script is fast and full of interesting dialogue - though it somehow sounds stilted and out-of-place with a British inflection. It's like shoehorning a New Yorker's voice into a British mouth. Mr. McGregor is always fun to watch, and as Ian he turns up his easy charm even while playing a pretty despicable character. But Mr. Farrell is the real revelation here, giving perhaps his first performance in years to live up to the hype of his stardom. The rest of the cast, particularly Ms. Atwell, appears to be happy just to be in a Woody Allen movie.
With a name like "Cassandra's Dream" (it's the name of the boat the brothers invest in together), you know we're going to be dealing with themes of fate and destiny. Sure enough, "Cassandra's" script explores some familiar Woody territory. Mr. Allen's directing is typically sturdy, and it's amusing to see the man who once described himself as a "land-locked Hebrew" filming scenes on a sailboat. Without giving too much away, the writer-director appears obsessed with the idea of getting away with murder. Unfortunately, "Cassandra's" plot is too predictable and the ending too easy to provide any real insight.
Mr. Allen has gone through phases before (the post "Radio Days" days were particularly dicey), but rarely has his output been so lacking. It's possible that he's simply lost touch. Heck, it even happened to Kubrick, but he only averaged a film per decade. With Mr. Allen's prodigious output, the trend is much more recognizable. Let's just hope it's reversible.
