Cassandra's Dream
Written and directed by Woody Allen
The Weinstein Co.
2008
Rating:


Woody Allen's thirty-eighth writer-director effort "Cassandra's Dream" would be as easy to shrug off as "Scoop," "Anything Else," "Hollywood Ending" or many of the other movies Allen has produced in the wildly uneven years that have followed his last true masterpiece, 1992's "Husbands and Wives," but by falling into the drama genre the film feels far more egregious. While "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion's" lightweight comedic nature allows it to be effortlessly disposed of as the piffle it is, the solemnity of "Cassandra's Dream" signals a more sincere effort by Allen at making art. The degree to which Allen fails at attaining the higher bar he sets for himself makes "Cassandra's Dream" that much more intolerable.

"Cassandra's Dream" concerns the attempts of middle-class brothers Ian (Ewan McGregor) and Terry (Colin Farrell) to break out of their caste. Ian, who fakes his wealth for actress Angela (Hayley Atwell) by stealing from the family restaurant and borrowing luxury cars from the auto garage Terry works at, is on the verge of entering a supposedly surefire hotel venture in Los Angeles, but he's short of the capital. Terry, after going on a gambling hot streak that allows him to buy a boat (named the Cassandra's Dream after a race dog) and put a down-payment on a house, now owes ₤90,000 to loan sharks. Their wealthy uncle Howard (Tom Wilkinson) is also in some trouble because of a colleague who's set to testify against him, and it's Howard who comes up with a solution for all three of their problems: Howard will give the brothers their money if they commit an act of murder.

Allen stages and scripts the proceedings with awkward portentousness as he moves indolently to the film's climax. The English class-based murder was already the subject of Allen's "Match Point" and the moral dilemma and resulting remorse were better evinced in 1989's "Crimes and Misdemeanors." The easy comparison does Allen and the film no favors, serving only to remind Allen's fans how far he has fallen.

Posted Saturday, February 2, 2008

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