To Rome with Love 2012

Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine: It's lazy, frivolous filmmaking -- To Rome With Love has about as much intent as a vacation -- but in spurts, gives real pleasure. Read more

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: ...a refreshing summer entertainment, not too sweet but not terribly bitter, and very picturesque besides. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: One of the most delightful things about "To Rome With Love" is how casually it blends the plausible and the surreal, and how unabashedly it revels in pure silliness. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: I was blissed out during much of To Rome With Love, but I have to acknowledge its creepy side. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: It's time to pack up the Vuitton and come home, Woody. Your inspiration is thin, you're running out of euros, and you're having a bad day. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: What's on screen is a collection of cliches intermingled with outlandish farce or surreal fantasy. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Well, it's not "Midnight in Paris," but it's not "Whatever Works," either. Read more

Alison Willmore, AV Club: Palatable overall, if vaguely inauthentic and unsatisfying, like an allegedly local meal bought at a tourist restaurant. Read more

Kerry Lengel, Arizona Republic: A film that sometimes comes off as an intersection of tangents, but it also gives rise to moments of joyous whimsy. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: A charming but terribly self-indulgent trifle that's less than the sum of its many parts. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: Most of the characters are archetypes, yet Allen treats them with genuine affection and avoids the bitterness that's marred much of his recent work. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Allen probably makes too many movies. This one's OK. He'll make more. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: It's all rather sweet but instantly evanescent. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: Read more

Ricardo Baca, Denver Post: Allen's story moves along quite wonderfully, primarily because of his nuanced casting. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: It's minor Woody, but it's still Woody. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Woody Allen has become such a beguiling travel agent that he rolls through these stories with a relaxed effervescence that is rather infectious. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: Allen the writer-director has gone tone-deaf this time around, somehow not realizing that the nonstop prattling of the less than scintillating characters almost never rings true. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: An affectionate but meandering comedy that contemplates romance, fame, legacy and longing. Read more

Charlie McCollum, San Jose Mercury News: If you're expecting another "Midnight in Paris" -- and you may well in the first moments of the new film -- you will be disappointed. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: To Rome with Love desperately needs a script polish, as well as an entire third act. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: Woody Allen's new movie, To Rome with Love, is light and fast, with some of the sharpest dialogue and acting that he's put on the screen in years. The picture gently but surely moves back and forth between romantic comedy and satirical farce. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Even loyal fans have to admit this isn't so much a movie as four little one-page New Yorker stories, strung together with "Volare" and one-too-many shots of the Trevi fountain. Read more

Ella Taylor, NPR: To Rome with Love feels thin and lazy, another collection of familiar ensemble skits carelessly strung together in a cross-generational contemplation of the Big Issues that have plagued Allen's life and fed his art. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR: To Rome with Love is just froth - a romantic sampler with some decent jokes and gorgeous Roman backdrops. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: The comedy is passable, and the ways the stories play off each other provides enough to think about to be engaging. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Alas, it's a love letter written on the fly, with brushstroke characters working their way through a cluster of sketchy, disconnected plotlines. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Once upon a time, calling a movie "lesser Woody Allen" might be considered a slap in the face. Now, it's more-or-less expected. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: Not as creative as "Midnight in Paris," but it's a funny, quirky, frothy diversion. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: [It] generates no particular excitement or surprise, but it provides the sort of pleasure [Allen] seems able to generate almost on demand. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: To Rome With Love lacks the overarching theme of time and regret that distinguished Allen's last romantic comedy, but it has pleasures galore. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: It's often inept, moment to moment. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: At times this multiple-plot meander through the glorious labyrinth of the Eternal City can feel aimless, even lazy. But in the film's best moments, that willingness to wander works to its advantage. Read more

David Germain, Associated Press: It's not Nero who's fiddling, but Allen, bopping and dithering around the city like a tourist so desperate to cram in all the sights that he comes away only with a few crisp highlights and a lot of out-of-focus snapshots. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Fans of Allen's magnificent earlier work can only look at this effort and feel their own brand of Ozymandias melancholia. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: In the end, Woody Allen and Rome go together like corned beef and gelato. Read more

Christopher Orr, The Atlantic: Allen seems to be aiming for the precise intersection of art and commerce where sophistication is implied, but nothing that takes place is ever obscure or challenging or revelatory. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Not great, but not grating. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: The results don't rank with his greatest triumphs, but there are enough laughs and watchable performances to make it all go down easy. Read more

Trevor Johnston, Time Out: Allen's creative revival comes to a juddering halt with a foursome of would-be amusing vignettes that barely muster a laugh between them. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: You never feel like you're anywhere except a mediocre New Yorker casual. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The best thing that can said about the picture is that it's a pleasant time-waster that also doubles as a travelogue for anyone interested in visiting Italy. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: It's often frivolous and banal, though never tedious. It does offer moments of buoyant humor, farcical fun and consistently gorgeous cinematography. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: This pleasantly diverting, none-too-strenuous arthouse excursion feels like a throwback to Allen's short-story anthologies, with the added pleasure of seeing a game cast play along. Read more

Chris Packham, Village Voice: This Rome is luminous, and Allen, as in Manhattan, is great at imbuing his film with a strong sense of location. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: Somewhere in here is a real movie, but it's hard to find in all the mess (which, despite everything, is actually funny from time to time). Read more