January 23–30, 1997

movie shorts

EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU

Woody Allen's latest is a sweet-hearted, cynical, toe-tapping, disjointed mishmash. He takes a stab (and I do mean stab) at Musical Comedy here, and while the gimmick does provide a fresh flavor, it keeps him from developing any characters or makingthe points he seems to want to make about romantic vs. platonic love. Every single song (they're all Cole Porter/ Rodgers & Hart-era chestnuts) pops in from nowhere and stops the plot dead in its tracks. People burst straight into singing withouteven a bar of intro, and every song closes the scene it's in. Some are outlandishly silly production numbers, but not one deepens or enhances the story or the characters. The "musical" format actually works against itself, showing ourinsistence on separate fantasies of love over honest connection — in other words, it's a musical trashing the whole point of musicals. The plot is typical Woody, with people falling in love and out again and so on, notably Drew Barrymore as a girlnamed Skylar; Alan Alda as her father; Goldie Hawn as his wife; Woody (yes, he sings too) as her ex; and Julia Roberts as his objet d'amour. There are a disturbing number of ripoffs of previous Woody devices, most notably theeavesdropping-on-the-therapist's-patient plot. Yet even with these flaws, Everyone Says is worth seeing, if only for its many truly funny moments; they're totally unconnected and irrelevant, and they last only a second or two, but they willmake you laugh.

— Vance Lehmkuhl

(Ritz Five; Ritz 12; UA Bryn Mawr)