Recommended Viewing: "Somewhere" Written & Directed by Sofia Coppola

Lost in Translation is one of my favorite films. I think it perfectly captures not only the bewilderment and beauty of visiting a foreign country, but also the ennui that comes from mid-life crises and post-college crises, when you either regret how you've spent your life so far, or you can't figure out who you're supposed to be.

This line never ceases to make me laugh:

Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson): "I tried being a writer but I hate what I write. I tried taking pictures, but they were so mediocre. I guess every girl goes through a photography phase. You know, horses... taking pictures of your feet."

Despite my love for the film, I was reluctant to watch Ms. Coppola's most recent project, Somewhere, because I feared it would be more of the same, yet less of what was so great about Lost in Translation.

There are a few obvious similarities. A movie star (this time played by Stephen Dorff instead of Bill Murray) lives in a hotel, drifting through his pampered, rather absurd life without purpose. And yes, once again he's jolted out of his stupor by a "younger woman" (his 11-year-old daughter Cleo, play by Elle Fanning).

The performances are terrific, and I especially appreciated the way the film was bookended. We begin with a static partial shot of a race track, and watch as Dorff, in his expensive and noisy Ferrari, speeds around it (briefly out of sight) four times. The symbolism is clear: he's going nowhere; he's going in circles.

The final shot (spoiler alert) is Dorff in the same car, alone again, but driving out of the city, out onto the open road, going somewhere at last. And when he exits the car this time, there's a hint of a smile on his face.

When I write novels or short stories, I aspire to make my endings relate directly to my beginnings -- either by referring back to the opening imagery, or using similar allusions so the story feels like it's come full circle.

Do you believe endings should directly reference beginnings, or do you think it should be up to readers to interpret any potential parallels for themselves?

Show Me the YA Version

Sara Shepard's popular series Pretty Little Liars was conceived as Desperate Housewives for teens, which got me thinking about other programming and properties that have been successfully re-imagined and reshaped for a younger audience.

Lauren Oliver's Before I Fall (which has been optioned for a film adaptation) is sort of like Groundhog Day for teens, and Carrie Ryan's dystopian future / zombie novel Forest of Hands and Teeth mixes elements of Cormac McCarthy's The Road with M. Night Shymalan's The Village for teens.

It works the other way, too. What is Lev Grossman's The Magicians if not Harry Potter for grown-ups?

Here's my (admittedly bizarre) wish list of projects I'd like to see redone in YA style:

1) Lost (Not in a Lord of the Flies or Survivor way, though -- I'm more interested in seeing the metaphysical aspects, the sense that certain people are destined to affect one another throughout their lives, plus time travel, obvs)

2) Inception (Entering people's dreams and altering their daylight decisions? Yes, please)

3) Prime Suspect  (How this would even remotely work I have no idea. But it'd have a strong heroine and be awesome)

Are there any films, TV shows or adult books you're dying to see adapted into YA format?

"Inception": Inspiration for Perseverance

According to Wikipedia, it took nearly 10 years for writer/director Christopher Nolan to bring Inception to the big screen. He wrote the idea for Inception in 2001 but didn't think he was ready to tackle such a large project at that stage in his career, so he waited until 2009 before revising the script and selling it to Warner Bros.

At first I thought it must have been agony for him to wait that long to do his "dream" project (har) but actually... nine years is not that long. And it's not like he was idle all that time (ahem, Insomnia, The Prestige, Batman franchise), just biding his time and learning how to direct projects that were bigger in scale than his mind-bending feature debut, Memento.  I think it was smart of him to wait, and rather inspiring.

Depending on what you're writing, nine years of development is not unheard of, especially with historical fiction. Let's say it takes a year to research, brainstorm, and jot down notes for your novel; two years to write the first draft; one year to revise based on notes from family and friends; six more months to revise based on agent notes; six months on submission; another year or two to revise for the editor; and one more year before it's actually published -- BAM! Eight or nine years, in a blink.

The trick is that it wouldn't be the only thing you're working on, of course. You could have three or four projects in the wings, at various stages of development, until before you know it, you've built a repertoire. And with each project, the process is streamlined to go faster. Some projects would only take a year or two.

That's what I choose to take from it, anyway :)

Recommended Viewing: "The People vs George Lucas"

I caught a documentary screening at the L.A. Film Festival last night called The People vs George Lucas. It was a brilliant examination of the Star Wars franchise, its most ardent fans, and the disappointment/rage the fans felt when Lucas tinkered with the original trilogy and released the prequels.

I was a fairly casual fan of the series. I was born the year Episode IV: A New Hope first hit theaters, I rented the original trilogy on VHS as a kid, and my friends and I watched the films regularly in college. Oh, and I had a lifesize Han Solo cardboard cutout in my first apartment. And at one point I collected the cards... (Okay, upon further reflection, I was a medium-sized fan.) So I well remember the anticipation and frustration provoked by Lucas' misadventures in the late 1990s and early 2000s that seemed to undermine the greatness of his creation.

The People vs George Lucas is an often-hilarious and touching celebration of film and fandom, and poses the question: Does Lucas alone control the rights to his masterpiece, or, once something becomes a part of the global cultural zeitgeist, do the people who made it a success/were most affected by it have some say? *

As the film progressed, I changed my mind quite a few times regarding this central theme -- and that, to me, is a good indication of a well-produced and thoughtful documentary.

*edited to add: especially when it comes to the altered re-releases, which, some argue, fundamentally changed the characters (*cough* Han)

Book-to-Film: How Does it Work?

Lots of book-to-film deals were reported recently.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett was bought by Dreamworks. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith will be produced by Tim Burton. Incarceron, a dystopian YA novel by Catherine Fisher, got snapped up by Fox 2000, and Ally Carter's Heist Society sold to Warner Brothers in a bidding war.

Considering that two of the four have only just been published, how did they grab films deals so quickly?

Well, they likely generated interest a long time ago. I don't know specifics about the above deals, but when I worked at a TV movie production company, my bosses subscribed to Publishers Weekly. They would skim the announcements and loglines for all the projects that had been sold to publishing houses, and then contact the Sub Rights (subsidiary rights) departments to find out if the film/TV rights were available. Often we would get emailed copies of the novels pre-publication, at which point I wrote coverage -- a detailed summary with comments -- on the stories.

I'm sure the authors' agents also worked very hard to get the novels in front of producers early on.

Nobody Does it Better

Hollywood Reporter had a little ditty about Roger Corman, "the B-movie king," and his crazy hybrid science fiction movies like the forthcoming Dinoshark and Sharktopus!

Oh TV and film industry, have you no shame? I thought.

But of course the book world is not immune to silly hybrids. Just look at the success of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, and the latest fare from Ben H. Winters: "Android Karenina."

These are hilarious, but I'm going to go into Old Woman Grumpus mode here for a second and hope that people are also reading the originals.

Twilight Moonies

I can't resist sharing Variety's headline for this weekend's box office: "Femmes 'Moon'-Struck."

I figured there'd be a pun about biting or werewolves: "Suck on This" or something. It never ceases to shock Hollywood that females attend movies. Producers around town seemed equally stunned by the success of Sex and the City last year, despite ridiculous amounts of pre-sale tickets. When it's women fueling the box office, it freaks everyone out ("WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? WE MUST ANALYZE") and somehow becomes news. You probably won't ever see a headline for Transformers mention men or boys, though.

Good News for Heathcliff Fans

Meaning Heathcliff the plump orange tabby who was always in Garfield's shadow, of course. Is there another Heathcliff? ;) Variety reports that he's getting his own live action film! I still remember the lyrics to his theme song.

However, I personally loved Riff-Raff (above) and Cleo the most, so this news is bittersweet. They were the other cats on Heathcliff's half-hour cartoon show, the ones who would only show up at the very end and didn't actually exist in the comics.

For some reason they lived in a junkyard -- and yet Riff-Raff wore a beret and a scarf. Although looking at images of him now, I realize it was a baseball cap. Why did I think it was a beret? Why did I even know the word beret when I was in 3rd grade?

Also: how did Riff-Raff ever in a million years get slinky Cleo for a girlfriend...cat...thing? And why were they all ORANGE?

Scary Movies

In today's issue of CS Weekly, we recommend several terrifying films to rent for Halloween. I chose "The Ring."

For this article and more, subscribe to CS Weekly, the Friday eZine of Creative Screenwriting Magazine -- it's free!

10/23: Happy Anniversary to Me & Joe and Henry & Clare

Henry and Clare, you ask? Who are Henry and Clare? Why, they're the couple in "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger. I read the book two weeks ago, on the recommendation of my friends Kirsty and Mallory. Still can't decide if it was romantic or tragic, but it kept me riveted for days. It also kinda freaked me out because their fateful wedding (in which Henry time travels, as he is wont to do) is the same date as my wedding to Joe five years ago. Plus I'm from Chicago, which is where Time Traveler's Wife takes place. Freaky.

Joe and I celebrated on Wednesday by having dinner at Mozza in Los Angeles. Extreme yumminess was had. This weekend we'll probably stay in and watch The Curious Case of Benjamin Button on Netflix. Another time-bendy story! What does this mean?

P.S. I haven't forgotten about Mad Men. I need to catch up on last week's episode, so I'll have a double-header up next week :)

Like Father, Like Son

Variety reports that Stephen King's son, Joe Hill, has sold the film rights to his upcoming novel, "Horns."

The book comes out February 9, 2010, and centers on a "26-year-old man who wakes up from a hangover and finds horns sprouting out of his head." The horns may be related to the unsolved murder of the man's girlfriend.

I wonder if Joe was born with talent, or if he studied "On Writing" like the rest of us? ;)

"Whip It" Review

The roller derby flick "Whip It" (starring Ellen Page, directed by Drew Barrymore and written by Shauna Cross) hits theaters today, as does my screenplay review of the film.

Subscribe to CS Weekly, the Friday eZine of Creative Screenwriting Magazine.

"Angels & Demons" Review

To celebrate the recent release of The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, I'm posting my May 15th screenplay review of Angels & Demons, the film based on Brown's first book in the Langdon series.

Republished with permission from Creative Screenwriting:

Langdon vs. God
By Sarah Skilton

Angels & Demons

David Koepp and Akiva Goldsman
Based upon the novel by Dan Brown



Returning screenwriter Akiva Goldsman joins David Koepp for more Vatican-baiting adventures, and their script easily surpasses 2006's The Da Vinci Code. Despite some unintended yuks, so-so dialogue, and a few moments that insult the audience's intelligence, the story is brisk, exciting, and surprising.

Although Dan Brown's novel for Angels & Demons came first, the film adaptation of the book is treated like a sequel to The Da Vinci Code, with Tom Hanks reprising his role of Professor Robert Langdon, symbols expert. When a scientific cult called the Illuminati ("Enlightened Ones") kidnaps four Cardinals and threatens to blow up the Vatican using anti-matter they've stolen from the CERN laboratory in Switzerland, Langdon is summoned from Harvard to help the Swiss Guard and Vatican Police follow "The Path of Illumination" to locate the bomb. At first, church officials give Langdon the stink-eye, as they've not forgotten his sacrilegious theories from the previous film. But since he understands more about their own history than they do, they're prepared to cede the floor. Langdon also partners with a comely, mostly believable physicist named Dr. Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer, generating better chemistry with Hanks than Audrey Tautou did in Code).

The script is marred by unintentional humor, often arising from overly expository dialogue. Early subtitles in a lab scene gone wrong suggest cartoon villains at work ("The reactor was not supposed to generate anti-matter!"), and Langdon and his team spend a large portion of their introductions telling each other things they already know. Even though nearly everyone in Rome speaks (accented) English, the script doesn't trust the audience to understand much, because Landgon ends up interpreting English into…more obvious English. For example, the Illuminati leave their seekers a message warning that neither priests nor professors are safe. "They know I'm here," Professor Langdon blurts out. Cutting to his silent, fearful reaction and letting the mention of "professors" speak for itself would have carried more weight. Even the ancient Latin and Roman texts from the super-secret Vatican archives have clues written in English in the margins. How thoughtful! To be fair, moments of intentional humor work well, too, such as the back-and-forth between Langdon and Vittoria when they're pretending to be married tourists, or a scene where reporters from different countries announce that the Cardinal from their respective region is surely the frontrunner to become Pope.

Characterization is hit-or-miss. Professor Langdon's methods of deduction remain unexplained; it's easier to just take his word for it. Mostly he mutters to himself, gestures with a marker across a map, or races around until he stumbles upon a centuries-old clue or statue that confirms his guess or refutes it. At least twice he looks down at a critical interval only to realize that he's standing on top of the clue he needs. Other times he becomes Action Symbologist!, fleeing from bullets and crawling over skulls. On the plus side, the character of Camerlengo Patrick McKenna (Ewan McGregor), is compelling. A complicated and passionate young Priest temporarily in charge of Vatican City until a new Pope is named, he tries to evacuate the crowds outside St. Peter's. When his efforts are met with resistance, he tries personally, and at great risk to himself, to save them from potential doom.

Despite its flaws, the film is exciting and often downright fun: murder, vengeance, cover-ups, a race against madmen, and an impending Vatican explosion keep you on the edge of your seat. The Da Vinci Codefeatured a homicidal, self-flagellating religious nut, so it's only fair that Angels & Demons features a homicidal, self-satisfied science nut. Or does it? The twists pile on toward the last third of the film, and people who are telegraphed early and often as power-hungry creeps (such as Armin Mueller-Stahl's Cardinal Strauss) get a satisfying chance to redeem themselves. As an action-packed popcorn flick, Angels & Demons gets your heart racing, but as a semi-ridiculous, pseudo-history lesson, it also gets your eyes rolling.

Reading TV

I've got one of those jobs that could only be a job in Los Angeles (sort of like the woman who hangs out in the fish tank in the lobby of The Standard on Sunset Blvd). Basically, I read television and film scripts and write character descriptions of the roles being cast.

When I first started my job, this was a typical scene at the office:

ME: OH MY GOD! Did anyone see [insert TV show] last night?!?

Awkward pause.

CO-WORKERS: We don't watch TV.

ME: Really?? Because I think it would be so cool to see who they cast and how it all looked!

CO-WORKERS: ...Yeah. You'll get over that.

It's true that I watch less TV now than I used to, but I still definitely geek out over certain shows. Although my favorite program this summer is a reality show on BBC America, How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?. It perfectly merges two of my obsessions, Top Model and Sound of Music. What more could I ask for?

My Clips: BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD Film Review

Fun Fact: I received a piece of hate mail after this review came out. Enjoy!

Republished with permission from Creative Screenwriting:

No Such Thing As a Victimless Crime

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Kelly Masterson


In Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) proposes to his screw-up younger brother, Hank (Ethan Hawke), that they rob their parents' suburban jewelry store. A lot of nervous laughter, flop sweat, and hand-wringing follows -- but very little planning. Andy is convinced he's masterminded a victimless crime: Hank will use a fake gun, and Mom (Rosemary Harris) and Dad (Albert Finney) will receive insurance money. Unfortunately, Hank outsources the task to an acquaintance who doesn't get the memo about the gun; after that, events go from catastrophic to worse in the out-of-order scenes. The brothers' motivations are shaky. Andy is a well-to-do albeit drug-addicted broker who wants to move to Rio with his troubled wife, Gina (Marisa Tomei), because they were happy there once on vacation. As for Hank, he owes child support, and his daughter needs cash to see a Broadway show with the rest of her private school. It's not like anyone's funding a sex change operation (as in Dog Day Afternoon, director Sidney Lumet's previous heist movie); nor are they hurting to put food on the table. Albert Finney's grief and his determined quest for justice are moving, but it's difficult to empathize with Hawke or Seymour's characters, because neither of them makes a single logical choice. (Also, Hank's phrase, "You'd be doing me a favor," spoken to the barrel of a loaded gun, should be copyright of Rick inCasablanca.) There is a certain dreadful excitement in watching the Devil brothers scramble to escape their fates, however.

- Sarah Skilton

My Clips: DEFINITELY, MAYBE Film Review

Republished with permission from Creative Screenwriting:

How I Didn't Meet Your Mother

Film
Definitely, Maybe

Adam Brooks


On the eve of signing his divorce papers, Will Hayes (Ryan Reynolds) tells his heartbroken, precocious 10-year-old daughter Maya (Abigail Breslin) the story of Mom and Dad, but he changes the names of the characters (including Rachel Weisz as a provocative journalist and Elizabeth Banks as Will's college sweetheart) so that Maya won't know which one is her mother. Definitely, Maybe suffers from the same script idiosyncrasies as the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother: absurdly inappropriate subject matter for a kid (Dad's sex life and pre-Mom relationships in detail), tangential plots, and a scene or two in which the narrator isn't present and couldn't know what occurred. When April (Isla Fisher), "the best friend who wants to be the girlfriend" (Maya's words), interacts with Will, the story is engaging and genuinely tearjerking; their behavior and dialogue reflect the awkward, brilliant, and occasionally cruel cadences that two people in love realistically draw out of one another. Subplots involving Will's youthful idealism turned political disillusionment and April's search for a particular copy of Jane Eyre are solid as well. Still, no matter how articulate, mature, selfless, and well-adjusted Maya is, no kid would enjoy rooting against Mom, realizing Dad may have been pining for a non-Mom all these years, or discovering Mom might be a cheater. While the framing device is innovative, the fact that Will is actually telling these things to Maya and she's delighted to act on the information makes for a strange, dubious bedtime story.

- Sarah Skilton

My Clips: WHERE IN THE WORLD...Film Review

Republished with permission from Creative Screenwriting:

Morgan, Come Home

Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?

Jeremy Chilnick and Morgan Spurlock


Say your wife is pregnant with your first child, and you're worried about the baby's safety. Do you: A) stay in New York and tend to your wife or B) travel to the world's most volatile countries and search for the world's most wanted man? In Morgan Spurlock's new documentary, Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?, our intrepid hero decides on the latter. His saintly wife spends her pregnancy alone wondering if Spurlock has been blown up. Nobody watching will entertain for even a second the possibility that he might succeed in his quest, and the over-simplified conclusions he draws ("In the end, it doesn't really matter where Osama is..." / "Most Muslims are just like us. They also want safe kids!") are painful and obvious. Spurlock's wry, game jocularity worked perfectly in Super Size Me (for which he received an Academy Award nomination) because he kept the stakes small, personal, relatable and entertaining.Where in the World...? tries too hard to appeal to a popcorn crowd. The constant din of music, video game graphics and combinations thereof (Bin Laden dancing to "Can't Touch This" and battling a video version of Spurlock), obliterates any sense of gravitas for the subject. Perhaps Spurlock wanted an excuse to play soldier. The ecstatic look on his face when he gets to shoot a rocket launcher says it all. Early on, a shantytown dweller reveals more common sense than Spurlock. When asked for advice on how to raise kids, the man says, "Be good to your wife."

- Sarah Skilton

My Clips: JUNO Film Review

Republished with permission of Creative Screenwriting:

Teen Dream

Juno

Diablo Cody


Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page), an über-creative 16-year-old, discovers she's pregnant from a one-night stand with her good friend, Paulie Bleeker (a delightfully bewildered Michael Cera). With help from vibrant best pal Leah (Olivia Thirlby), Juno decides she'll give her baby to Vanessa and Mark Loring, a well-to-do, blissfully photogenic couple (played by Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman) who are not as perfect as they first appear. Juno's father (J.K. Simmons) and stepmother (Allison Janney) warn Juno not to get involved in the couple's personal life, but though she has no qualms about severing ties with her baby once he or she is born, she can't resist hanging out with Mark in the meantime; he's more like a teenager than Juno is, and complications ensue. Diablo Cody's script is wickedly clever and emotionally honest. It may be unfair to criticize dialogue for being too good, but when Juno, all deadpan wryness, speaks to the adults, her self-aware language occasionally interrupts the scene (asked by her father what she's been up to, Juno replies, "Dealing with situations way above my maturity level"). However, that's not to say it isn't hilarious, and in scenes with her peers, particularly Leah, Juno's behavior and dialogue are completely natural, while still being enjoyably fresh. As in Knocked Up, the possibility of abortion is mentioned but quickly dropped, because otherwise there would be no movie…and that would be a shame, because both the film and its eponymous heroine are smart and lovable.

- Sarah Skilton

My Clips: STEP UP 2: THE STREETS DVD Review

Republished with permission from Creative Screenwriting:

You Sorta Got Served

Step Up 2: The Streets

Toni Ann Johnson and Karen Barna
Based on characters created by Duane Adler



In the hip-hop dance world of Step Up 2: The Streets, the young adults look wangsta-menacing but none of them would dream of packing heat; all scores are settled on the dance floor, and the cruelest taunt heard is, "You guys are garbage." Early on, the results of a dance-off determine that troublemaking, goodhearted tomboy Andie (Briana Evigan), a midriff-baring but otherwise squeaky clean street-style dancer, must promise to study hard and apply herself so she can get into the distinguished Maryland School of the Arts. The members of 410, Andie's dance crew (known for masked, public disturbance-style guerilla dance fare on subway trains), grow disgruntled and dump Andie because she no longer has time to practice. In response, Andie forms a new crew with Chase Collins (Robert Hoffman), a hooded, well-to-do hottie at the art school who's being pressured to live up to his family's legacy but secretly longs to show off his krumping. The dialogue comes in three flavors: on-the-nose exposition, paper-thin characterization, or pseudo-inspirational stock phrases including "Be yourself"; "Don't give up"; "It ain't what you got, it's what you do with what you got"; and "This crew is supposed to be family." Despite the clunky speeches, the writers deserve credit for packing in as many dance scenes as possible in surprisingly organic fashion, and the choreography rates an A. The DVD extras include pointless music videos from the soundtrack's artists and deleted scenes that belong where they are; however, the "making of" documentary with first-time director Jon Chu and the behind-the-scenes dance segment are endearing and informative.

- Sarah Skilton

My Clips: VICKY CHRISTINA BARCELONA Film Review

Republished with permission from Creative Screenwriting:

One Voice, Many Faces

By Sarah Skilton

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Woody Allen (also directed)



What happens when several characters in a film have the same voice, regardless of age, gender, or personality? Vicky Cristina Barcelona is charming and entertaining at times, but Academy Award-winning comic legend Woody Allen could still learn to diversify when it comes to character.


While dining together after an art show in Barcelona, good friends Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (current Woody-muse Scarlett Johansson), two 20-something American tourists, are invited by a charming painter, Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), to fly away for a naughty weekend trip. Vicky, who is getting married in the fall, is deeply offended and angered by the offer, but Cristina is intrigued, and they ultimately agree to go. To her shock, Vicky falls for Juan, and when the threesome returns to Barcelona, she confides in her unhappily married hostess, Judy (Patricia Clarkson), who advises her to ditch her boring-but-stable fiancé, Doug (Chris Messina), and make the choice Judy couldn't: romance over practicality.

Unaware of Vicky's misery and confusion, Cristina and Juan forge ahead with their own blissful relationship until Juan's crazy ex-wife, Maria Elena (a fabulous, volatile Penélope Cruz, stealing scenes like a professional thief), shows up, demanding a place to stay. That's when the comedy takes off, but the passion and hilarity Cruz's role injects into the story may come too late to save the script.

Throughout the first half of Woody Allen's latest film, there is bizarre, detailed narration that adds nothing to the characterization or plot, nor does it belie the action onscreen to humorous effect (as do the brilliant subtitles in his classic romantic comedyAnnie Hall). Rather, the narration tells us precisely what we're seeing. "They ate outside on the terrace and laughed" is juxtaposed with a scene of…the characters eating outside on the terrace and laughing. It's as though Allen had adapted the film from a beloved short story and couldn't risk removing a single, whimsical word of explanation. This is, of course, not the case, and while the voiceover does give us backstory on why Vicky and Cristina are in Barcelona for the summer, the information could easily have been left out, or, better still, revealed through dialogue or behavior. It's pretty obvious within a few scenes who the young women are: Vicky the student is prickly and judgmental, content if resigned to her path of marriage; Cristina the actress is adventurous and flighty, always seeking love but unsure what she wants from it.

Both female leads, particularly Vicky, talk like Woody Allen, and it's an odd sensation to see vibrant young women performing with his tics and speech patterns. That's not to say it isn't amusing; it's just not realistic. Johansson has been down this path before; her dialogue and behavior in Scoop and Match Point also required her to perform Allen-isms. In last year's Cassandra's Dream, however, Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell's characters were allowed to become more than Allen surrogates, so why not the ladies of Vicky Cristina?

Vicky is harshly disapproving, neurotic, and unlikable for a good portion of the story, and it's difficult to understand why Cristina or Juan would put up with her for any amount of time. Also, how and why did these women become close friends back in college? Their dialogue contains virtually no slang, in-jokes, or references to past events; at times they are formal and overly polite, as though they barely know each other at all.

Tellingly, Maria Elena does not get the narrative treatment, nor must she endure the Woody-voice. Perhaps it's because she speaks in Spanish, and is allowed a freer range of expression and movement. Her delightfully dysfunctional arguments with Juan Antonio are charged with sexual energy. Despite its flaws, the script does deliver some genuine laughs and romance, and the meditation on love, art, and choice is amusing and even thought provoking.


Whether Vicky or Cristina, Judy or Doug, they're mostly versions of Woody Allen. The characters who don't fall prey to Allen's famous mannerisms are Juan and Maria, and it is their story that entertains most.