The most recent product of Woody Allen's romp in Europe, "To Rome with Love" uses both English and Italian to tell four self-contained but occasionally intermingled stories about the lives and loves of the visitors to and residents of Rome. The characters in the film include a young provincial man (Alessandro Tiberi) who must pretend a prostitute (Penelope Cruz) is his wife due to a series of misunderstandings, an established American architect (Alec Baldwin) who relives his past, an ordinary Italian who becomes famous for no discernible reason (Roberto Benigni) and an opera director (Allen) who attempts to jump-start the career of a mortician who cannot sing anywhere but in the shower. Katie Tai
Directed by: Woody Allen With: Allen, Tiberi, Cruz, Baldwin, Benigni 112 minutesRated R
Breezy and light but also predictable and self-indulgent, "To Rome with Love" exemplifies the type of unfortunate artistic endeavor that as a whole is less than the sum of its parts. Although the movie's use of classic Woody Allen humor pleasantly contrasts with the bombast of summer blockbusters, Allen's reliance on tired tropes is saved only by the subtle acting of his cast. Katie Tai
"To Rome with Love" creates a surreal world that never delivers. With four completely separate plots operating on different time frames, the movie tries to critique the hypocrisies of modern life, including the costs and benefits of fame, attraction to someone completely wrong for you and the struggles of getting older. Despite these lofty aims, the world Allen creates seems to run away from him. Felicia Schwartz
A failed attempt to resurrect the offbeat, elusively romantic charisma of "Midnight in Paris," Allen's second European city film is a confused muddle of disconnected vignettes. The beautifully colored landscape and warm-washed alleys of Rome can't make up for Allen's depiction of yet another agitated, scattered Allen caricature, a mortician performing Puccini arias in an onstage shower and Alec Baldwin's eyebrows playing the specter (or is he the id?) of Jesse Eisenberg's conscience. Basta! Jenny Che
