Dir. Woody Allen
98 Minutes
Rated PG-13
Watch Trailer
Woody Allen has always been hit-or-miss with me, even with his most critically-lauded works (Midnight in Paris just wasn't my kind of flick), but the casting choices alone got me excited for his latest, Blue Jasmine - especially Louis CK and Andrew Dice Clay, two comedians not necessarily known for their subtle performances. But Allen knows how to work his cast, and Blue Jasmine has some of the best performances I've seen all year. Cate Blanchett is the "Blanche," Jasmine, a neurotic debutante who lost everything after her millionaire husband (Alec Baldwin) was sent to jail for scamming people out of money. She books a flight to New York to dorm with her sister (Sally Hawkins), a lower-class mom with two kids and a blue collar boyfriend (Bobby Cannavale). The film depicts Jasmine's mental descent both seriously and humorously to great effect, and shows that the now 77-year-old Allen still has creative juice left in him.
Of course Blanchett is amazing, and will more than likely be nominated for her performance, but the supporting cast is what elevates this to an acting master-class. Sally Hawkins is wonderful as the more loose and grounded counterpart to Blanchett's craziness, and Alec Baldwin perfectly embodies the rich, suave guy whose arrest would concievably ruin Blanchette's whole way of life. Louis CK was great in his small role (which I won't spoil), and knew to rein it in. Cannavale is the "Stanley Kowalski" of Blue Jasmine, and even though it's meaningless to compare him to Brando, he does display the same type of animalistic energy. Perhaps the biggest surprise however is Andrew Dice Clay, who plays Hawkins' ex-husband in the picture; in a strangely subtle performance, he conveys this man who has nothing left once his wife leaves him (and considering where Andrew Dice Clay's career is in real life, it's easy to see where this anger/desperation comes from).
There were some questionable moments in tone however, that slightly hindered my enjoyment of the film. I had a definite problem with the music, which almost always signaled for a laugh, even during scenes of real emotion or darkness. Often certain behavioral tics or the way the scene was shot seemed as though were made for humorous effect. Take for example one scene where Jasmine, is doing her "pedestrian" job answering phones at a dentist's office. The dentist (played by Michael Stahlberg from A Serious Man), who has had his eye on Jasmine for a while, decides to force himself upon her -- and based on the way the scene is handled looks like it was made for laughs. I'm not sure if that was what was intended, but I still found it a very awkwardly handled quasi-rape scene regardless. Because it's Allen, you expect some comedic flourishes, but it felt a little uneven at times. Still, its sometimes strange tonal shifts weren't enough to hurt my enjoyment of the movie - it's a great film with an even better cast. Worth seeing even if you're not the biggest Woody Allen buff around.
Rating: B+
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