Review of Wonder Wheel

"Wonder Wheel" is a new American movie that runs for 100 minutes roughly and it is the newest effort by Oscar winner Woody Allen as writer and director and as locations are always crucial in his works, here he pays tribute to his hometown (home city?) New York, or, to be more specific, to Coney Island. Actually his next work is also about New York. But back to this one here: The film is hitting European cinemas these days and you will find several cast members in here who are somewhat big names, most of all Kate Winslet, but also Timberlake, Belushi, Temple and a few more. This award-winning film is really all Winslet's film though and the longer it goes, the more you will find her character at the center of it all. Even the scenes with Timberlake's character talking to the audience vanish completely eventually, which is kinda nice as they added nothing and were as forgettable as Timberlake's performance itself. If you compare Belushi to Timberlake, you will see that one held his own next to Winslet pretty well and the other not so much. All in all, it was a solid watch. On some occasions, you will find Allen's great attention to detail, like the two inclusions of Bora Bora, while other parts felt a bit shoddy and rushed, especially how JT's character all out of nowhere eventually sees through all Winslet's character did. It did not seem too realistic and how Allen has characters get away with much worse crimes in other films, it was surprising how he had it all solved in here. There is an increasing tendency of the crime component in his works, even if it is never graphic or anything, just implied like the disappearance of Temple's character for this one here. Winslet's character sure is among the more interesting I have come across this year and I am a bit surprised she did not get too much awards attention for her role here. It may have to do with the weak critical reception for the film itself. But it wasn't that bad overall really, even if the title may not have been the best choice.

There is situational comedy here and there, a lot of it coming from a young boy with an unhealthy obsession with (setting) fire, but the humor here is not as frequent or maybe even as dark as in other Allen films. This one is definitely more of a family/relationship drama than anything else and then the crime and comedy components follow in second. Really, you never get an Allen film without the crime component these days, but I'm fine with it. All in all, it was a success, even if it definitely wasn't as good as his brilliant recent film starring Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone. Maybe the script as a whole was not on par with Allen's attention to detail that is still really convincing and I'm sure you will find something new and intriguing on third, fourth and fifth watch. Temple and especially Timberlake didn't impress me either, so other casting could have been favorable too. Still, if you like Kate Winslet as much as I do, then this one really deserves to be seen, is almost a must-see in my opinion. And please don't follow the advice of people telling you not to watch it because of decisions made by Allen concerning his personal life. Don't strip yourself of seeing a quality film for such reasons. It would be a bad decision. Watching this one is the right decision and I am positive you will enjoy it. The characters have interesting shades and you really don't need to find them likable to enjoy the watch as a whole. Thumbs up. Go see it.