WOODY Allen’s films since abandoning New York as his favourite location have travelled to London, Barcelona, Paris, now Rome. 

Different cities, similar dramatic structures. A collection of small stories in which characters’ paths intersect and part. No violence, love finding a variety of expressions, low-pitched emotional appeals delivered with Allen’s brand-name humour.

In Rome, he takes aim at Americans off their home turf, playing a retired music publisher, who hears a bathroom baritone and insists on staging “Pagliaci” with him in it. An aspiring young actress (Ellen Page) has had her ability to make personal choices fried in the boiling oil of social media. The media appear at the door of a businessman (Roberto Benigni) to make him famous until the next celebrity comes along. A young wife, newly arrived in Rome, becomes lost while looking for a hairdresser and ends up in bed with a middle-aged movie star.

The base of Allen’s reputation is acidulous comment in a sugar coating. It’s easy to understand why actors clamour to work for him. His themes for these mini-stories have merit and their delivery has charm. Their combined flavour here lacks a sense of completeness. I find this quite sad. But I also took enough from the film to leave it adequately pleased.

At Dendy and Greater Union