Vicky Cristina Barcelona

vickycristinabarcelona

I don’t mind voice overs when they are done well. I really hate annoying and unnecessary voice overs. Voice overs are annoying when they take the place of lazy direction and acting. When they tell us what people are like instead of actually figuring it out by their actions or what they say to other people. They are unnecessary when they tell the audience what two characters could have told each other. This movie would have been greatly improved without a voice over.

It starts off telling us in the voice over how the two friends are very different in their views on love. Vicky is very pragmatic about love and engaged to a very safe, stable man. Cristina wants passion in her love and doesn’t necessarily want it to make sense. The two women have pretty much this same conversation later on at dinner. Why was the voice over there? It really shook the mood of the movie. Without it, it was so easy to get caught up in these two women exploring Barcelona for the summer and running into a passionate artist who wants to spend time with both women. Then there is his crazy ex-wife who doesn’t make anything easy for him, but seems necessary to his life. Every time the voice over happened, the reverie was broken. Everything that had been built up in the direction was gone. It was just stupid.

Beyond the dumb voice over, I really liked the movie. I thought everyone was sexy. I loved how insane Penelope Cruz was as the ex-wife. She didn’t show up until the middle of the movie, but I liked it when she did finally arrive. I thought the ending was a bit sudden at first, but the more I thought of it, it made sense. It was the end of their summer. They both went back to their lives and the little dream life they had for the summer in Barcelona had to end too. It wasn’t reality, but it was a bit of a fantasy they had for a few months that probably will change their view on a few things in their regular American lives.

Rating: B+

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