You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger -- Film Review

CANNES -- The grass is always greener in "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger," Woody Allen's roundelay of perplexed characters chasing illusions rather than reality. As a film from Allen's ongoing British/European period, where he spins out comic trifles or morality plays that drift seemingly free of national context, the comedy is more amusing than most, though it lacks the vibrant spirit of "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." This is Woody in a bemused mood, devilishly complicating his characters' lives with follies and foibles of their own making until he ties each protagonist into a comic pretzel. Then he takes a tea break.