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And Woody Allen Makes Money
By Kyle | February 10, 2009
Speaking of random box office charts, Woody Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” has just passed “Match Point,” meaning in nominal dollars it is his biggest hit since 1986’s “Hannah and Her Sisters”, which earned $40 million. If you corrected for inflation–in other words, if you counted tickets sold, which is the way a normal business would measure success, Allen’s biggest one would probably be “Annie Hall,” which earned $38 million in 1977, followed closely by 1979’s “Manhattan,” which made $39 million. (Box office mojo doesn’t have numbers for his first couple of hits.) “Vicky Cristina” is likely to cross $100 million worldwide as it hasn’t opened in Japan or Britain yet.
February 10th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
So Woody+ScarJo= hit movies, therefore invalidating your last post!
February 10th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Just saw Vicky Christina this weekend (on DVD) and was reminded of John Simon’s quote “titillation cures neither hollowness nor shallowness.”
I mean come on… Javier Bardem playing the Pepe la Pew of Barcelona (”first we will do the keesy, keesy and then conclude with the ooh la la”). Scarlet as the kind of pretentious arthouse twit Allen used to mock (”she found an artist/lover whose work she believed in” Oh wait I’ll alert the Louvre). The hideous narration, Penelope Cruz’s ridiculous painting outfit… thank God for FF.
It was nothing compared to Annie, Manhattan, or Hannah. Barely $23 million domestic.
February 10th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
I like the Pepe Le Pew comparison…however my admiration for this film is undiminished.
February 10th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
I saw it made your top ten which is why I rented it.
I’m easily influenced.
BTW Did you have the mumps?
February 12th, 2009 at 12:05 am
This one caught me off guard - in a very pleasant way. And I’d marry Rebecca Hall tomorrow if my wife would let me.
But that narration! How a veteran like Allen could leave it in … it’s staggering. A film school dropout could tell how awful, and unnecessary, it was.
February 12th, 2009 at 1:03 am
I loved the narration. Felt like 60s French New Wave to me. Reminded me of Jules and Jim.
February 14th, 2009 at 8:36 am
I would say VCB is a triumph of style over substance …if it actually had any style. The best thing about it is that Woody Allen isn’t in it.
Why would they end the film with them going down an escalator? What is the point of that? Penelope Cruz was rubbish but she did get some of the best lines. Like when she explains why she went through Vicky’s suitcase. I paraphrase -
“Of course I checked. You might have wanted to kill me. I know I think about killing YOU.”
I saw this film right before I saw Rachel Getting Married. The latter is a brilliant film with first rate acting.
The actor who played the long-suffering father should win a supporting actor award but I doubt anyone nominated him. Without saying a word, he conveys pure heartbreak - both when he sees his son’s dead choo choo train plate as he’s loading the dishes and when he flaps his hands up and down to get his two warring daughters to STFU.
I would be interested to know if Tonto or Kyle actually reviewed this film. Just so I can read their reviews and disagree with them.
February 14th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
I searched IMDB.com to discover the actor’s main claim to fame before this film was playing Mr Noodles in Sesame Street.
Another case of America recognising its talent.
Perhaps the Big Bird will land a piece in the next Spielberg blockbuster.