MOVIE REVIEW

'Vicky Cristina Barcelona'

3 out of 4 Stars

Woody Allen's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" is an analytical anomaly that doesn't just study its four central characters; it examines their environment as well.

Allen's previous movies – "Annie Hall" or "Hannah and her Sisters," for example – delivered brilliant character studies. Others like "Manhattan" are essentially a love song to the city they're set in. "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" accomplishes both – it provides the audience with diverse and profound characters set against beautiful Barcelona.

The film opens with Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) – intriguing and creative women, which explains why they are such good friends. Although, when it comes to the subject of love, Vicky and Cristina couldn't be more different.

While spending the summer in Barcelona, the two women encounter a suave and seductive man named Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem). He approaches them with a proposition: join him for a weekend of dining out, drinking wine and making love. Vicky is baffled at Juan Antonio's directness, but Cristina is somewhat provoked by it.

One thing leads to another, and the three do end up going out for the weekend. By the end of those two days, someone is seduced, someone is surprised and someone ends up greatly confused. It's the way these events play out that makes "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" such a good film.

The thing about Woody Allen movies is that the script is always unbelievably excellent, the dialogue witty and fresh. The cast must portray their characters with a certain tender affection for Allen's creative atmosphere, and all four central characters succeed here.

The two that truly pop, though, are Rebecca Hall's Vicky, and Penelope Cruz as Juan Antonio's firecracker of an ex-wife, Maria Elena. Hall's performance is very subtle, but it sticks with you, and Cruz is amazing as always, delivering a performance that deserves a best supporting actress nomination.

But Hall, Johansson, Bardem and Cruz would not be able to give such amazing performances if it weren't for Allen. What's unique about "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" is that if you close your eyes and listen, you'll still be entertained. The film is narrated much like a novel by Christopher Evan Welch, and the dialogue stimulates the senses.

Allen has returned with his best movie since "Match Point," and Cruz has given her best performance since her Oscar-nominated role in "Volver." The film is a tale of love, lust and location, and all three aspects go hand in hand as the story develops. Is it the luscious landscape of Barcelona that makes Vicky and Cristina enamored with Juan Antonio? Is either woman sure of what love really is? Are their emotions just based on the spontaneity of the situations they encounter with Juan Antonio?

"Vicky Cristina Barcelona" does an odd thing with the viewer's mind: It makes you think, and then magically all those thoughts transform into feelings. Vicky, Cristina, Juan Antonio, Maria Elena and the city of Barcelona combine as a catalyst for the chain of emotionality that is experienced through viewing.

Funny, witty, thought-provoking and unexpected, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" is a postcard and a love song tightly wrapped and delivered in a thoroughly enjoyable package, signed, sealed and delivered by Allen himself.

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Greg Vellante is a teen writer for the Sunday Eagle-Tribune.