woody allen's EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU (1996)

in regards to Woody Allen i've gone, over time, from fanboydom to apologism and now to distanced respect for his middling work and disdain for the lesser stuff, of which there seems to be more every year. Everyone Says I Love You is one of those in the middle; in some respects it is one of the stronger pieces of that period in his career (the "Miramax years", I suppose, from Bullets Over Broadway right up to Sweet And Lowdown, the best film he's made in two decades) because it pleases with much less effort than the works surrounding it, and lacks the (mostly) unwelcome cynicism that's defined so many of his films since then. Most directors in love with How Things Used To Be seem to find themselves drawn towards making a musical just for the hell of it, and Everyone Says I Love You is successful in that it keeps a quietly goofy enough tone to pull it off, a tone that helps the rest of the film get by between numbers. the story is corny and partially recycled (listening in on therapy sessions? at least wait ten years before cribbing your own plots) and Natasha Lyonne's narration, filled with affected stammers read directly from the page, consistently cripples the experience. but the here-and-there cleverness of the musical conceit (Natalie Portman's sobbing her way into an Alda-aborted "I'm Through With Love" is one of the funniest gags in the film) really does make the whole thing worthwhile, and Allen & Goldie Hawn's dance by the river gets me every time. it's not one of his best films by any measure, but it's one of the few lesser ones i don't ever mind revisiting.