You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger - Film Review

Story by Greg Bright 

| Published Oct 26, 2010

An ensemble film is a very hard feat to accomplish, even for a filmmaker as good as Woody Allen.

Though Allen is a master at creating complex characters, sometimes the films they are in just never really spark, and that’s the problem with his latest effort.

The story revolves around four unhappy upper-class London residents. A divorced older couple, their daughter and her husband, whose marriage is falling apart one day at a time.

Allen attempts to keep the convoluted story held together by the idea of fate and ability to predict the future.

Unfortunately it doesn’t work, partly because Allen severely underplays the theme, and of course because of Allen’s (recent) obsession with making every somewhat major character have their own romantic story.

As always, you do have to give Allen credit for being the only male filmmaker making rich, complex female characters.

Also credit needs to come to the comedic actress, Lucy Punch for her scene-stealing role as the trophy wife. Between this and her other scene-stealing role in Dinner for Schmucks, I’m hoping Hollywood realizes this woman deserves a nice long career.

Overall if you liked Allen’s weaker 2000s films like Melinda and Melinda, you may want to check this out, but this is definitely not one of his greater efforts.