Rent Everyone Says I Love You (1996)

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

After 1990 Woody began to be more interested in genre cinema. He made an expressionist horror film in Shadows and Fog and would go on to pastiche film noir with The Curse of the Jade Scorpion. So, this musical comedy about the romantic diversions of an extended family of rich New Yorkers perhaps shouldn't have arrived as such a shock.

It isn't an homage to any of the great Hollywood musicals. The actors perform their standards without talent or elan. The choreography is clumsy. It's a Woody Allen film with brief moments of singing and dancing. Another romantic triangle.  Aside from a ballroom dance by the Seine with a wired-up Goldie Hawn, the musical numbers aren't that enjoyable.

It's pretty thin stuff and there's is no really stand out comedy. It's difficult to care that much about the affairs of such slight characters, so other irritants are exposed. Like (a 61 year old) Woody Allen and Julia Roberts being swept away in sexual passion, and in such a contrived circumstances. Why is Edward Norton actually doing a Woody Allen impression?  

The characters so ridiculously privileged it's difficult to relate to them. Overlook all that then there is a gentle, undemanding comedy in there somewhere. The photography by Carlo di Palma is sumptuous. The New York, Venice and Paris locations are stunning. Drew Barrymore has never looked more beautiful. But... this is my candidate as Woody's worst film.