You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
Woody Allen comedy about the anxieties, ambitions and romantic misfortunes of a pair of married couples. The brilliant cast includes Josh Brolin, Naomi Watts, Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas.
After Alfie (Hopkins) leaves Helena (Gemma Jones) to pursue his lost youth and a free-spirited call girl (Lucy Punch), Helena abandons rationality and surrenders her life to the loopy advice of a charlatan fortune teller. Unhappy in her marriage, Sally (Watts) develops a crush on her handsome art gallery owner boss, Greg (Banderas), while Roy (Brolin), a novelist nervously awaiting the response to his latest manuscript, becomes moonstruck over Dia (Freida Pinto), a mystery woman who catches his gaze through a nearby window. Their attempts to dodge life's problems, with pipe dreams and impracticable plans, lead to heartache, irrationality, and perilous hot water.
- Director:
- Woody Allen ('Vicky Cristina Barcelona', 'Match Point', 'Small Time Crooks', 'Mighty Aphrodite', 'Hannah and Her Sisters', 'The Purple Rose of Cairo', 'Manhattan', 'Interiors', 'Annie Hall')
- Writer:
- Woody Allen
- Cast:
- Josh BrolinAntonio BanderasAnthony HopkinsGemma JonesNaomi WattsFreida PintoLucy PunchRoger Ashton-GriffithsChristian McKay
Reviews & comments
Total Film
pressThis mordant yarn boasts a fine cast and waspish wit. But overall it’s a cold and inconsequential piece that won’t be remembered with affection.
Time Out
pressIt isn't the first time death has figured in an Allen movie, but the way he grapples with it here (leaving each character at a moment of irresolution comparable to staring down the man with the scythe) is much more potent and direct.
The New Yorker
pressMuch of the writing is good, and the acting is superb, but the constant wrangling wore me out at times.
The New York Times
pressFor the most part, everyone struggles through, with at best mixed success. The audience included.
The Guardian
pressIt's interesting and worthwhile, with creative vitamins that are absent in so much of what fills the cinemas.
Roger Ebert
pressThe movie is forgiving. But the search for happiness is doomed by definition: You must be happy with what you have, not with what you desire, because the cost of the quest is too high.
Hollywood Reporter
pressThe movie ends just when complications start to set in, which makes you wonder how invested Allen really is in the little melodramas within this comedy.
Empire Magazine
pressStill no signs of the master re-living past glories, but more than worthwhile for Allen diehards.
Wonderfull Woody
This masterpiece is my favourite woody todate. Essentially the film is a send up of middle class urban american society. It focuses on one extended family and manages to milk every last drop of side shattering black ooze out of their very dark, sinister and selfish hearts. The film centres around a disfunctional extended middle class family in new york...
Total Film
pressThis mordant yarn boasts a fine cast and waspish wit. But overall it’s a cold and inconsequential piece that won’t be remembered with affection.
Time Out
pressIt isn't the first time death has figured in an Allen movie, but the way he grapples with it here (leaving each character at a moment of irresolution comparable to staring down the man with the scythe) is much more potent and direct.
The New Yorker
pressMuch of the writing is good, and the acting is superb, but the constant wrangling wore me out at times.
The New York Times
pressFor the most part, everyone struggles through, with at best mixed success. The audience included.
The Guardian
pressIt's interesting and worthwhile, with creative vitamins that are absent in so much of what fills the cinemas.
Roger Ebert
pressThe movie is forgiving. But the search for happiness is doomed by definition: You must be happy with what you have, not with what you desire, because the cost of the quest is too high.
Hollywood Reporter
pressThe movie ends just when complications start to set in, which makes you wonder how invested Allen really is in the little melodramas within this comedy.
Empire Magazine
pressStill no signs of the master re-living past glories, but more than worthwhile for Allen diehards.
Wonderfull Woody
This masterpiece is my favourite woody todate. Essentially the film is a send up of middle class urban american society. It focuses on one extended family and manages to milk every last drop of side shattering black ooze out of their very dark, sinister and selfish hearts. The film centres around a disfunctional extended middle class family in new york...
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