Weak fluff but a devastating looks at no-talent celebrities. Only the harried, suddenly anointed celebrity tale was beautifully crafted satire.
TO ROME WITH LOVE is a stale, weary confection of four tales set in sanitized Rome.
Then there is the bedroom farce of newlyweds Antonio (Alessandro Tiberi) and Milly (Alessandra Mastronardi). Milly gets lost looking for a hairdresser and Antonio winds up in bed with a hooker, Anna (Penelope Cruz), who has gone to the wrong room. Antonio’s family suddenly arrives and finds the two seemingly in flagrante delicto, so Antonio tells them she is his wife.
“Asked to describe any regrets she may have, Kim had one simple note: ‘Lack of privacy.’ ‘Everyone is always watching me, I’m under constant observation, everywhere I go there’s a camera following me, in the gym, when I do the shopping, and if I decide to go out without make-up it makes news throughout the world.’ The 31-year-old seems to believe, despite living largely in front of the cameras, she is misunderstood.”
Leopoldo (Roberto Benigni) is a typical Roman with a wife and two children. He is a manager who wakes up one morning besieged by paparazzi. He has become the newest obsession. His every movement is recorded and he is questioned about every meaningless gesture he makes. What did he have for breakfast? How many blueberries were in his muffin? (my nod to CASINO). Which shoe does he put on first? The entire country is amazed and enthralled with him.
Harried at first and begging to be left alone since he has not done anything to merit this kind of attention, Leopoldo is soon seduced by young women who want to have sex with him. He soon succumbs to bestowing his favors to all comers.
The day I saw TO ROME WITH LOVE the U.K.’s Daily Mail reported this: “All this food just for her: Kim Kardashian prepares to chow down a family barbecue… and there’s more than enough buns to go around.”
The love triangle was terrible except for Baldwin’s whip-smart dialogue expertly delivered. There was absolutely nothing seductive about Page and there could have been but glorifying a woman’s appeal has never been in Allen’s wheelhouse. The newlywed’s tale was silly. And it’s interesting that the new groom may have wanted to confess his indiscretion, but not the new bride.
Only the harried, suddenly anointed celebrity tale was beautifully crafted satire.
Madonna, desperate to be relevant, whipped down her trousers and exposed her posterior onstage on Tuesday night in Rome. A few days before she showed off her one of her nipples to the crowd in Turkey. And in Milan Madonna was at it again. Dressed in a cheerleader’s uniform, the 53-year-old flashed her red briefs to the crowd at the Meazza stadium in Italy.
Victoria Alexander is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association: www.bfca.org/ and the Las Vegas Film Critics Society: www.lvfcs.org/. Victoria’s weekly column, “The Devil’s Hammer,” is posted every Monday. http://www.fromthebalcony.com/editorials.php. If you would like to be included on Victoria’s private distribution list for a weekly preview, just email her at masauu@aol.com. Victoria lives in Las Vegas, Nevada and answers every email. You can contact Victoria directly at masauu@aol.com.