Woody Allen's normal concerns of neurotic characters, dysfunctional relationships and the often frustrating search for love in this modern and cynical age get a new spin in his latest comedy. Everyone Says I Love You is Allen's loving homage to the Hollywood musicals of the '30's and '40's, and he superbly marries the grand style of the big production numbers with his more intimate and idiosyncratic approach to romantic comedy. Music has always played a big part in Allen's films, with his use of Gershwin or Cole Porter tunes particularly effective in establishing atmosphere and mood. But here, the music is deliberately moved to the foreground and actively becomes an important element in the film's main action as the characters break out into songs and wonderfully choreographed dance routines, adding an intriguing new angle to Allen's normally self effacing style of comedy. Allen proves himself surprisingly adept at the musical comedy format, apart from a clumsy climactic fantasy dance routine, staged on the banks of the river Seine, in which the use of wires becomes uncomfortably obvious.

The film itself centres around a rather comfortably well off extended New York family as they stumble through a series of light weight romantic crises. Allen himself plays Joe, an intellectual, divorced writer now living in Paris, who still pines for the great love of his life, his first wife Steffi (Goldie Hawn). Steffi has remarried, to pompous liberal Bob (Alan Alda), and the couple live in a comfortable East Side apartment with their four children. Daughter Skylar (Drew Barrymore) has become engaged to the handsome young lawyer Holden (Edward Norton, who has become hot property since his sensational debut in Primal Fear), much to the delight of her parents, but there will be a couple of hiccups along the way to the altar. Meanwhile, in Venice Joe has fallen for the beautiful Von (Julia Roberts) and attempts to seduce her in an elaborate charade in which he impresses her by using intimate knowledge of her personal likes gleaned from his match making daughter and film's knowing narrator DJ (Natasha Lyonne).

After the darker pitch that characterised many of his later films, Allen has returned to the light weight effervescent style of his earlier work, and there are some moments in Everyone Says I Love You that are pure vintage Allen. The gags and acerbic one-liners come thick and fast, delivered in style by one of the strongest and most impressive ensemble casts that Allen has assembled, who all obviously enjoy working with the richly scripted material and well-defined characters. Even though they are not renowned for their singing ability, the performers manage to warble their way through a number of specially reworked old standards in reasonable enough fashion, although Barrymore's singing voice was supposedly dubbed, and Tracy Ullman's role was completely cut from the final print.

Alda, who has become a regular of Allen's ensemble in recent years, is comfortable and relaxed with the director's style and he delivers a less mannered performance than normal, while Hawn offers solid support with a sparkling performance as his dizzy socialite wife. Natalie Portman, Lyonne, Gaby Hoffman and Lukas Haas make the most of their lesser roles as their children, while Tim Roth almost manages to steal the film with his deliciously droll performance as the over sexed convict and mass murderer whose release from prison has become the latest liberal cause championed by Steffi.

Allen's affection for his beloved new York City is immediately obvious as regular collaborator Carlo Di Palma's glorious cinematography captures the thriving, cosmopolitan city in all its splendour. But, seemingly inspired by the nature of the film's central plot about the troubled search for love and happiness, Allen also moves the action beyond the limitations of his native New York, setting much of the story in Paris and Venice, two of the world's more romantic and beautiful cities. Di Palma similarly brings them to life, capturing their classic and timeless beauty and visually enhancing one of Allen's unashamedly more light weight and entertaining films of recent years.

© 1996-97 Greg King / Used With Permission