ShareThisAfter making three films in England and seeming very much at home, Woody Allen plays tourist in Spain with "Vicky Cristina Barcelona."It's an approach that works well for the writer-director. He uses the exotic locale to remove any sense of equilibrium his main characters have, forcing them to examine their issues without a safety net.Those issues mostly have to do with love. Americans Vicky (Rebecca Hall of "Starter for 10") and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) have been best friends since college, but their outlooks on romance couldn't be more different.Vicky is traditional and mature. She's engaged to Doug (Chris Messina), who's as practical and predictable as she is. Cristina goes through men as often as the seasons change. She doesn't know what she wants; she only knows what she doesn't want, which is a normal, safe relationship.The friends are spending the summer in Barcelona, where Vicky has cousins, Judy and Mark (Patricia Clarkson, Kevin Dunn), who own a gracious villa. Vicky wants to work on her master's thesis on Catalan identity, while Cristina is escaping the wreckage of her latest breakup.Cristina and Vicky meet a sexy painter, Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), who had a notorious split with his ex-wife in which one of them tried to kill the other. He invites them on a trip to Oviedo for sightseeing and sex. Vicky coolly rejects him, but Cristina accepts, so Vicky agrees to go along.The weekend doesn't turn out as planned, and Vicky ends up spending much more time with Juan Antonio than Cristina does. But having thrown her world out of balance, she has to take a back seat as Juan Antonio and Cristina embark on an affair.Eventually, Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz), Juan Antonio's unstable ex-wife, shows up and complicates matters even further.The movie isn't really a comedy, though it has comic elements, but Allen has fun with twists on the Ugly American persona. Vicky has been obsessed for years with Catalan art and culture, yet she's never bothered to learn Spanish, much less Catalan. Cristina sees herself as a creative free spirit, but she's more a poseur than an artist.Johansson and Hall are in tune with the whimsical, wistful notes of Allen's screenplay. While they are the principal characters, the story wouldn't work without Cruz and Clarkson, who provide emotional resonance and a glimpse of the friends' futures.Cruz especially gets to show off her range; she brings the film to life. Bardem is perfect as Juan Antonio, a predator as well as a partner, enjoying life and making no apologies.Allen's only real misstep is narration (by Christopher Evan Welch) that states the obvious; a sprinkling of irony might have made it worthwhile. Otherwise, Allen has some wise things to say about human weaknesses in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona."Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material involving sexuality, and smoking.Four stars (out of five)(Contact Knoxville News Sentinel film critic Betsy Pickle at pickle(at)knews.com.)
'Vicky Cristina Barcelona' offers wisdom about human weaknesses
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