National Post (National Edition)
An amusement stuck in park
Is Woody Allen getting old, or just lazy? His newest feature (the 47th for those keeping track) opened last week in New York on his birthday (the 82nd for those keeping track) and includes a lot of Allen-esque tropes, not least the “Woody Allen character.” In fact, this one has two: Mickey (Justin Timberlake), who narrates the tale; and Richie (Jack Gore), a little red-haired boy with a pyromaniacal streak.
The story takes place on Coney Island during “the 1950s,” a rather ambiguous time frame, although a poster for the 1950 movie Winchester ’73 playing at a local cinema suggests we’re in the early days of the decade. Carolina (Juno Temple) has just arrived in search of her father; she’s on the run from her gangster husband, who wants her dead for talking to the police. Details are kept maddeningly vague on this point.
Jim Belushi plays Humpty, Carolina’s father, who runs the Coney Island carousel but would rather be fishing. He’s married to Ginny (Kate Winslet), a waitress who also has a child from a previous marriage, the aforementioned firebug Richie. Their ramshackle home is over the shooting gallery; shades of Annie Hall, in which Allen’s character claims to have lived under the roller coaster.
Timberlake works as a lifeguard and wants to be a writer, though he’s not believable in either occupation; it feels as though Allen just thought they sounded good. Similarly, we don’t really buy Winslet as a former actress, though her migraines and neuroses come across as the real deal. These two meet on the beach and tumble into an affair, even as Carolina moves into their already cramped home and starts a waitressing job alongside Ginny.
There are certainly enough pieces here to create an effective drama, but rather than moving forward organically, the plot feels pinched and pushed into place, like one of those map tables in a war movie, with generals shoving pieces forward with croupiers’ rakes. And the script has more gas in it than the Hindenburg; scenes meander onward, usually backed by The Mills Brothers’ Coney Island Washboard song, long after their narrative point has been made.
It’s a shame, because the movie looks great. With the exception of a couple of weirdly unfocused shots, the cinematography and lighting is gorgeous, and Allen’s nostalgia-spiced recreation of a just-past-itsprime amusement park is spot on.
But good drama needs more than just pretty backing. The subplot of Richie’s fire-starting is a needless distraction, as is the oddly paced scene in which Humpty brings home a tape recorder he bought from some guy on the boardwalk. And who says “I’ve become consumed with jealousy” in the middle of an argument?
So the pieces are all present — marriage, infidelity, criminality, philosophy, even therapy — but the proportions are all wrong. On the other hand, Allen isn’t giving up. Movie number 48, A Rainy Day in New York, is scheduled to open next year. So maybe laziness isn’t the problem. Wonder Wheel opens Dec. 8 in Toronto and Vancouver; and Dec. 15 in Montreal, Halifax, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton, with other cities to follow.