Cassandra’s Dream

(OLD REVIEW) You never know what you’re going to get with Woody Allen. I don’t expect any more flat-out joke-filled comedies like Bananas or Sleeper from him anymore (sadly), but other than that, pretty much anything goes, right across the dramatic spectrum from tragedy to comedy or a mix of both. And when he is good he is very, very good, and when he is bad he is rotten. Here he’s attempting a fairly standard thriller, with a few unexpected twists, and it’s only so-so. There are two brothers, very well played by Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell. One likes to gamble on dogs and cards, the other gambles on investments. They both need lots of money, and have a rich uncle who they approach to ask for it. He stuns them by telling them he’s in big trouble, and will go to jail (or gaol, I guess) if one of his employees testifies to the uncle’s crimes. He wants the dude killed. Neither brother has ever done anything like this before. They are not very good at it. I’ll say no more about the plot.

The script is a bit too talky, but the situation is intriguing. It could easily have been a comedy with only a few changes here and there. But it didn’t really engage me too much, possibly because I didn’t like either of these guys. The ending was not satisfactory at all.