To Rome With Love

Variety“This could be the cleanest R-rated film in recent memory...” Allen doesn't really have the time or space to flesh out characters, who remain almost cartoonishly one-dimensional. But the film feels like 15% too much as it is, with each of the strands coming in slightly longer and loopier than necessary...

Time“If there is an overarching theme, I missed it...” It’s lazy, frivolous filmmaking—To Rome With Love has about as much intent as a vacation—but in spurts, gives real pleasure...

The Arts Desk“Allen hits close to rock bottom in a portmanteau effort...” Airiness and charm are two of the most difficult-to-achieve virtues, and they give way here to a thudding quartet of stories, only one of which seems to have been even vaguely thought through...

Evening Standard“Allen's stale Roman adventure...” Whereas Midnight in Paris was freshly imagined (and became Allen’s most successful movie ever), this stale and flaccid exercise looks as if it has come from one of those old notebooks in which he keeps discarded ideas...

The Telegraph“Four of Woody Allen's worst films rolled into one...” As Allen enters his late 70s he shows little sign of slowing down, which is highly admirable. But there is no contradiction in admiring the man’s work ethic while taking issue with the work itself, and this really is a galumphing dud...

Guardian“A portmanteau farce with some hits among its many misses...” This film is far from the greatness of earlier years, although it sometimes has a cantering gaiety and sense of farcical fun...

Little White Lies“Plenty of storylines but few laughs...” One could reiterate the usual litany of complaints about Allen’s narrow, privileged conception of the world...but To Rome with Love actually puts the filmmaker’s ambivalence about materialism and fame front and centre...

Time Out film“[With a] cast of characters better suited to an Italian sex comedy...” It’s almost cruel to criticize something so essentially lighthearted and disposable, but it must be said that a lot of these jokes feel distinctly recycled, mainly from Broadway Danny Rose...

Empire“Feels like an early ’70s indigenous farce...” More madness in the midday sun than Midnight In Paris. Baldwin, Cruz and Davis shine in a farce that overstretches itself into bellylaugh hits, but also some satirical misses...

Total Film “Even less funny to watch than it is to describe...” Four trivial stories, forced laughs: don’t expect much more from Allen’s latest postcard from Europe...