Everyone Says I Love You (1996)

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

A New York girl sets her father (Woody Allen) up with an ugly woman (Julia Roberts) in a shaky marriage while her half sister gets engaged.For the most part, I am a fan of Woody Allen's work. I like the intelligent humor, and although he has gone through a few different phases, he seems to be good in a variety of different ways. This film was claimed to be among the "10 best of 1996" according to several sources.Personally, it may be one of the best of 1996, but I would not put it among Woody's best. Not even among his 10 best. I still liked it, especially the musical number with the ghosts. Nice touch. And this is the sort of role we never see Edward Norton in (but probably should). But it just was not as good as some of Woody's other work, and a bit of it seemed forced. The Republican kid was just too much of a caricature to even really be funny.

Woody Allen directing a musical and having stars who you wouldn't associate as singers initially could cause alarm bells, but I found Everyone Says I Love You much better than expected if not among Allen's best(a long way from his worst though). The film looks great with skilled photography and a great use of three of the world's most beautiful cities, New York in springtime looks enchanting here and Venice and Paris look breath-taking too. The songs are very pleasant and work really well within the film, Looking at You stood out as my personal favourite, not surprising seeing as it is Cole Porter. The production numbers and choreography are neither overblown or amateurish, not quite classic musical standard and a little silly at times but really enjoyable stuff. Highlights were the dancing ghosts in the funeral scene, the dancing number on the banks of the Seine and the Marx Brothers-like ending, it is not everyday when you see Goldie Hawn levitating either. The dialogue is toned down from what you usually expect from Woody Allen, not as blunt or as savage(as seen in Deconstructing Harry, which I consider Allen's last masterpiece), but it is still as sparkling and witty. The story is very warm and charming while showing a good amount of interesting insight on relationships, remarkably also it could be seen as one of Allen's most accessible. There are a few neurotic characters, particularly Allen's and Edward Norton's, but the characters mostly are quite likable compared to other Allen films(not that that is a bad thing). The singing is not amazing(wasn't particularly impressed by Julia Roberts or the dubbed singer for Drew Barrymore) but very little of it is bad either, Alan Alda has the best singing of the cast which added to Looking at You being a highlight. The performances are great, though Natalie Portman and Billy Crudup are under-used. Allen directs most assuredly and his performance comes off well. Goldie Hawn is good too and while he is a rather awkward dancer Ed Norton sports a not bad singing voice, but the best performances come from Alan Alda, Natasha Lyonne and a hilarious Tim Roth(who could have had more to do). Overall, a different film from Allen and while not one of his best, considering how films having directors who try to do something different generally have very mixed results, Everyone Says I Love You came off surprisingly excellently. 9/10 Bethany Cox

DJ(Lyonne, a typical teen girl - and our narrator), the daughter of heartbroken divorced Joe(Allen, his typical neurotic self, needing pushing by loved ones) sets him up with the unhappily married Von(Roberts, sweet, and... well, she doesn't have a lot of personality). Without her knowing. ...well, the latter's in therapy, and the former listens in. That old story. And along the way there are subplots, and this is, at its core, about falling in love, its effect on what one thinks about the future, and how sudden it can be - even when already infatuated with someone else.I don't often watch musicals, but this one is irresistible. Charming, hilarious with fast-paced dialog, background reactions, quick throwaway lines, and a memorable cast of characters, all of whom are portrayed by talented and well-known actors. The big numbers(and just *try* to stop humming them) are dominated by long takes and few cuts, with everyone in the vicinity singing and/or dancing, such as the early scene in the ER where doctors, nurses and patients giving it their all. There are sit-com-like misunderstandings and some pretty evenly divided political jokes, with the Republican son(hey, he has his reasons... maybe you'll learn them in this) and the liberal rest of the family. It takes place over a year, taking us around New York, Venice and Paris. The running time is 94 minutes sans credits.There is a little strong language in this. I recommend this to anyone who is at all into this type of film. 7/10

Why do characters in musicals suddenly and inexplicably break into song? Musical numbers are an emotional outlet for a film's characters, a means to express joys, sorrows, and yearnings that would otherwise be unarticulated. This is an outlet that, regrettably, is rarely available to ordinary people in the ordinary world. What Woody Allen does here is to bring the cinematic principles of the musical within the grasp of everyday characters – that is, people like you and me. Allen chose his actors precisely for their lack of singing and dancing ability, and on one occasion reportedly asked Goldie Hawn to "sing worse." If the musical numbers are clumsy and awkward, then I suppose that's part of their charm; Allen shoots most of his scenes in one or two takes, deliberately minimising the extent to which he is able to manipulate the quality of the performances. Nowadays, the one-take musical number is an oddity, and here it draws attention to the performers' weaknesses, but recall that this is how Astaire and Rogers were always filmed, lovingly and always with full attention on the dancers themselves.'Everyone Says I Love You (1996)' is a lighthearted romantic romp, a weaving of love stories connected by a single New York household. Edward Norton and Drew Barrymore are a lovestruck couple whose engagement is thrown into turmoil by the arrival of a sleazy ex-con (Tim Roth). Natasha Lyonne is a precocious teenager, attracted to a succession of random men, who tries to help her father (Allen) score a girlfriend by relaying a woman's (Julia Roberts) confidential psychiatric confessions. Not surprisingly, Allen's subplot is the strongest, bittersweet and heartfelt, and his final, melancholy dance with ex-wife Steffi (Goldie Hawn) carries all the sorrow and lamenting of Fred and Ginger's "Never Gonna Dance" number in 'Swing Time (1936)' {and does so even with Hawn's slightly bizarre gravity-defying antics}. On a lighter note, I also loved the Dandridge son (played by Lukas Haas), whose fiercely-Republican political convictions are explained away by a medical condition that was limiting the supply of oxygen to his brain.