Woody Allen had to go to London to find his edge again with the brilliant Match Point, and, apparently, he had to go to Barcelona to find his softer side. Allen's best comedy in over a decade, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, is another gem from the living legend, one of the best movies of the year and a delightful, end-of-summer reminder that it is still possible to write an original screenplay not based on a comic book, TV series, or existing franchise. Allen wisely leaves behind the physical comedy that had marred his lighter films of the last decade and instead focuses his incredible ear for dialogue and understanding of the dynamics of human relations on a theme of cinema since day one - passion. The result is truly one of the most enjoyable and best films of the year.

The stunning duo at the core of Vicky Cristina Barcelona is Rebecca Hall as Vicky and Scarlett Johannson as Cristina. Of course, the title makes pretty clear that the setting will be the third major character in Allen’s romantic tale. The two lovely ladies consider themselves opposites in the way they look at passion and love, but they're really not as different as they think. Sure, Vicky is more rational, sensible, and about to be married to the dullest of fiances, while Cristina is more sexually adventurous and trying to find what love means to her. As is said more than once by the occasional, omniscient narrator of the film (Christopher Evan Welch) - an odd storytelling choice that doesn’t really feel necessary - Cristina is one of those women who has no idea what she wants from love, so she keeps trying new things only to learn what she doesn't want. Vicky and Cristina are spending the summer in Barcelona and quickly encounter a rebellious, stunningly charming painter named Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem). And I do mean “encounter." Juan Antonio approaches the pair at a restaurant and asks them to join him for a weekend holiday in his small hometown. He makes very clear that he wants to bed both of them and that this will be a passionate excursion. Cristina talks Vicky into going, but, as with most spur-of-the-moment trips, things don't go exactly as anyone thought they would, and the situation gets infinitely more complex after the borderline-insane Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz), Juan Antonio's ex-wife, comes back into the picture.

Allen's best films feature his strongest characters, and Vicky, Cristina, Juan Antonio, and Maria Elena stand as some of the most interesting creations in his stunning filmography.  The two women at the heart of Vicky Cristina are both very good, especially Hall, but, perhaps due to home-court advantage, the movie is owned by Bardem and Cruz, both of whom give nomination-worthy performances. Javier couldn't be further from his Oscar-winning role in No Country For Old Men, but he's nearly as good here as he was in the Coens' flick. Juan Antonio is a fascinating character, a guy who wears all of his passions and problems on his sleeve, and Bardem is riveting with every great decision that he makes. Remarkably, Cruz matches him. After struggling with English-language crap like Sahara, Cruz has quietly given three stunning performances in Volver (which she should have won the Oscar for), a movie that opens next week that I’m still technically embargo-ed on, and this incredible role. She's perfect in VCB, and seeing her and Bardem, two alumni of Pedro Almodovar, at the top of their games in a Woody Allen flick of all places is one of the most pleasant surprises of the year. The biggest flaw of Allen’s film would be that he sometimes misses the mark when it comes to filming the actual, physical passion of the plot, something that was never one of his strong suits, but just casting Cruz and Bardem goes a long way in that department.

The symbolic dualities at play in Vicky Cristina Barcelona - Maria Elena's passion vs. Vicky's reason, Vicky's studying of art vs. people like Juan Antonio who actually practice it, American ideas about love vs. Spanish, being married vs. being in love - are incredibly dense and fascinating, but Vicky Cristina Barcelona never plays like a treatise on amor. It's just an enjoyable, thrilling summer in Barcelona that made me smile from beginning to end. The finale may come too abruptly and too randomly, but don't all European vacations end that way? And any problems that I may have had with the end were probably amplified by my desire to spend some more time with these incredibly interesting characters. Allen's two London films after Match Point - Scoop and Cassandra's Dream - were a let-down (although nowhere near as bad as the junk he was producing near the end of his "American period"), and I find it hard to believe that there is another Spanish story as great as Vicky Cristina Barcelona for Allen to tell. Hey Woody, get a Eurrail pass and head over to France or Italy. You're not going to top this summer in Spain.

Rating: THREE AND A HALF BONES

  Reviewed by Brian Tallerico (MovieRetriever.com Film Critic)

Release Date: August 15, 2008

Rating: PG-13

Starring: Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson, Christopher Evan Welch, Chris Messina, Patricia Clarkson, Kevin Dunn, Javier Bardem, and Penelope Cruz

Director: Woody Allen

Writers: Woody Allen