Rent Everyone Says I Love You (1996)

Not a disaster but.... - Everyone Says I Love You review by Steve

After 1990 Woody Allen started make genre films. Shadows and Fog is expressionist horror. The Curse of the Jade Scorpion is film noir. This a musical comedy about the romantic diversions of an extended family of rich New Yorkers. These are usually pastiches, but made with love.

Everyone Says.... may be a homage to the great Hollywood musicals, but the actors are not natural singers and the choreography is perfunctory. This a standard Woody Allen film, but with the periodic insertion of song and dance. Aside from a ballroom  number by the Seine with a wired-up Goldie Hawn, the musical episodes are uninspired.

The comedy is lacklustre and it's difficult to care much about the love affairs of these lightweights. So other irritants are exposed. Like (a 61 year old) Woody Allen and- much younger- Julia Roberts swept away in contrived sexual passion. Why is Edward Norton actually doing a Woody Allen impression?  

The characters are so privileged they are difficult to relate to. There is a gentle, undemanding romance in among the classic songs. The photography (Carlo di Palma) is lovely. The locations are stunning. Drew Barrymore has never looked more beautiful. But... this is my candidate for Woody's worst film.