EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1997 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): *** 1/2
Woody Allen's musical EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU is a delightful and infectiously happy movie. As a film critic, I can rarely afford myself the luxury of taking the time to see a movie twice, but I made an exception for EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU. Why confine the pleasure to a single setting?
Allen attracts talent to his projects, but this show has even more than normal. Alan Alda plays liberal Democrat Bob and Goldie Hawn plays his guilty liberal Democrat wife Steffi. Their daughter DJ (Natasha Lyonne), who is the narrator, explains that the difference is that her mom's parents were rich whereas Bob's were not, hence her mom's guilt. Almost everyone in the picture, as in most of Allen's films, are quite well off. Bob and Steffi have an expensive and extensive place in Manhattan, complete with a maid.
There is a black sheep in the family. Their son Scott (Lukas Haas) has become a conservative Republican. "How did I end up with a kid on the other end of the political spectrum?" laments Bob. "How did I fail?" Woody loves poking fun at everyone. The way Scott's conservative values are "resolved" in the film will undoubtedly infuriate some, but I thought it was hilarious.
Steffi's best scene shows her addressing a group of prison guards and presenting her solution to prison unrest. She tells the stunned guards her idea for the prisoners, "I say give them an opportunity to decorate their own cells with their personal interior decorator." Nothing comes of this visit other than that she makes good friends with soon to be released prisoner Charles Ferry (Tim Roth). This friendship will test her resolve as a do-gooder. Yes, you feel sorry for a vicious criminal, but would you want daughter to marry one?
Drew Barrymore is picture perfect as their innocent daughter Skylar. She is engaged to boyishly handsome Edward Norton as Holden. They have many delightful scenes together including the one where she accidentally swallows the ring he gives her.
Woody is the star of the picture as Steffi's ex-husband Joe. As usual, Woody plays the part of someone who has trouble with relationships. As Joe puts it, "In a relationship, it is better to be the leaver than the leavee." His last relationship has gone sour and he has been left. "I should go to Paris and jump off of the Eiffel Tower," he tells Steffi and Bob. "If I took the Concorde, I could be dead three hours earlier." Woody plays his usual character obsessed with death -- Mahler, but funnier.
Eventually Woody will go to Venice and meet a married woman named Von, played by the ever gorgeous Julia Roberts. They will have an affair that will be the centerpiece of the story. My favorite line of his comes after she compliments him on his love making abilities. Being overly debonair, he confesses, "There was a moment there when I stroked when I should have hickeyed."
All of the above is great comedy, but it is the musical part that makes the film stand out. The film is like a traditional musical and unlike EVITA in that the musical numbers are frequent, but most of the lines are spoken, not sung.
The musical numbers come from great old songs and are sung by the cast. Some of them have weak voices, with Woody's being the smallest, but all of them manage to provide happiness and mirth.
It is hard to choose which of the musical numbers I liked best. Many of them rely on choruses. When they are looking at the X-ray for the lost ring, for example, the doctor breaks into song as do the nurses and the patients.
Easily the most imaginative musical number happens in the funeral parlor. The dead relative gets out of his casket looking exactly like one of the ghosts from Disneyland's Haunted Mansion. He gathers other ghosts to sing, "Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, it's later than you think." Soon Bob and Steffi and all the kids are singing and dancing with them.
The film is exceedingly beautiful, certainly the most attractive movie Allen has ever made. His usual cinematographer, Carlo Di Palma, can be credited. Talking the colors from a Central Park in fall that has never looked lovelier, he uses that color palette for all of the photography. Unlike typical Allen films we also get location shots in such picturesque locales as Paris and Venice.
EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU is a joy to behold. You leave the theater with a song in your heart and wanting to repeat the experience again.
EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU runs 1:41. It is rated R for a single bad word from a rap song. Other than that, the film is pure PG. As soon the rap guy appears, cover your kids ears for a few seconds and the singer and his one profanity will be history. With that precaution you can take kids of any age to see the film although those under nine will probably not be interested. I strongly recommend the picture to you and give it *** 1/2.
**** = A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = Totally and painfully unbearable picture.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: January 31, 1997
Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.
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