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Everyone Says I Love You
review by Zach B.
Rated R
Running Time: 101 Minutes
Studio: Disney
Starring Woody Allen, Alan Alda, Goldie Hawn, Natasha
Lyonne, Tim Roth, Drew Barrymore, Natalie Portman, Gaby
Hoffman, Edward Norton, Luke Haas
Written and Directed by Woody Allen
Retail Price: 29.99
Features: None
Specs: 1.85:1 Non Anamorphic Widescreen, English 2.0
Dolby Digital, English Captions, Chapter Search
Woody Allen doing a musical? Can it work? Surprisingly,
yes. The film got mixed reviews by critics, and of course,
it was released as a small movie, so probably not too many
saw it, except Allen's core audience. I was a little
skeptical myself, but I must say, Everyone Says I Love You
is a very enjoyable movie, right from start to finish. The
film is sort of a tribute to musicals of the past. The songs
are pretty old-fashioned, and range from jumpy, happy tunes
to slow ballads. Allen hired his main music man, Dick Hyman,
to conduct the music and arrange it. But what makes this
film even better is that all the actors (with the exception
of Drew Barrymore, who insisted she did not sing, her voice
was dubbed) sing the songs. That's right, and that's why
this movie works. The people in the movie are supposed to be
normal, having their own lives, and it makes it "true" when
they sing what they feel, instead of having someone sing a
lot better (though I must say, Goldie Hawn is a very good
singer). So good part on Allen though. However, when the
movie is a bit flawed. The intertwining plots are nice,
however, I felt a few (such as Barrymore's romances) could
have been elaborated on.
Everyone Says I Love You focuses on a group of upper
class New Yorkers, and their struggles with falling in and
out of live. Joe (Woody Allen) is a divorced man who resides
in Paris, who can't stick in a single relationship. His
ex-wife, Steffi (Goldie Hawn) and her new husband Bob (Alan
Alda) are having troubles of their own. Bob is arguing with
his son from a previous marriage about politics constantly,
Steffi and Bob's daughter, Skylar, is having trouble
choosing between two men, one a convict (Tim Roth) and the
other successful and wealthy (Edward Norton) and their two
teenage daughters, Lane and Laura (Hoffman and Portman) are
arguing over the same guy. D.J. (Natasha Lyonne), Steffi and
Joe's daughter, narrates this story, and it seems her plans
constantly change too. Yet soon Joe spots a beautiful and
married art expert in Paris, and it happens D.J. knows all
about her, because her friend's mom is a shrink and treats
her back in New York. Things go downhill from there.
Allen's direction is perfect, and the songs, while old,
are very well done and catchy. The cast is also perfect and
truly brings this musical to life. "Everyone Says I Love
You" is what the movies are all about: to tell a very
entertaining and enjoyable story which leaves you in a good
mood.
Everyone Says I Love You is presented in 1.85:1
non-anamorphic widescreen. It is a shame it is not
anamorphic, but to my surprise, the transfer holds up really
well. There is some dirt and artifacts on screen, but there
is not that much of it, which really surprised me. I know in
many Disney transfers, especially the more recent ones,
Disney does not do such a good job cleaning things up. Yet
this movie was a bit older when this disc was released, and
looks better than recent movie transfers, such as, say, The
Insider. There could have been some more saturated colors
now and then, and some images are softer than others
(especially during the opening) but the detail is
remarkable. Very nicely done, I still am a bit shocked.
The only audio on this disc is Dolby Digital Mono 2.0,
which is not that bad. The sound is good, things are heard
clearly, it's decent, but still good, considering it is only
coming from two speakers. The music when the characters sing
do not overpower them, you hear the lyrics, and the music
playing perfectly in the background This is actually an
improvement as well: the laserdisc only had one channel
mono.
I know for a fact Woody Allen does not like extras, and
all you'll find on this DVD are the usual Disney
"recommendations", which I always find to be an annoyance
(in addition to their more recent "forced trailers"). Still,
there was a theatrical trailer to this movie (and it was
nice, non-spoiler!) and rumor has it, Alan Alda actually
recorded a commentary for this film. Sadly, none of those
features are featured here. The movie does deserve
something, but Allen doesn't care. Oh well...
It is a shame Allen does not like putting on extra stuff,
because this film really deserves something. Shame on Disney
too, for not putting on the trailer at least. If this is one
of your favorite Allen films, there is no doubt you have
gone out and purchased it. If you still have never seen this
overlooked gem, it is an excellent rental, and you'll feel a
little bad on how little known this film is. However, for a
retail price of nearly thirty dollars, and with no extras,
it's a little hard to recommend. Be warned though: You'll be
singing the tunes featured in this film for weeks on end.
 (4/5, NOT included in
final score)
(4/5)
 (3/5)
 (0/5)
 (2/5,
NOT an average)
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