The Daily Telegraph

Woody Allen is stuck in the past

- By Tim Robey

Wonder Wheel

12A cert, 101 min

★★★★★

Dir Woody Allen Starring Kate Winslet, Justin Timberlake, Juno Temple, James Belushi, David Krumholtz, Tony Sirico

Kate Winslet as a miserable American housewife in the Fifties? We’ve been here before, down Revolution­ary Road and back, a decade ago. The difference­s in Wonder Wheel are quite pronounced. Her wardrobe isn’t post-war chic but dress-up-box Coney Island waitress; her hair is auburn; and her director is Woody Allen, which presents a litany of problems right out of the gate. Can we ignore these? No, because the film sets about passive-aggressive­ly reminding us of them. It isn’t Allen escaping into the past so much as defensivel­y dredging it up, script-wise. And although he’s hired another world-class cinematogr­apher, Vittorio Storaro, the film’s look is pushy and unattracti­ve, as if it’s wearing too much lipstick.

I wish I could say that Winslet’s Ginny deserved better, but Allen has decided that she’s her own worst enemy. Winslet seems to be fighting a war against Allen’s direction, and everything goes to pot.

 ??  ?? Wonder Wheel: everything goes to pot
Wonder Wheel: everything goes to pot

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