In advertising Woody Allen’s European sex dramedy (drama?), “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” The Weinstein Company probably instructed their marketing, “Look ignore everything Woody says.”
And that’s a good bet. Allen has had one decent “hit” (we use that term lightly) in about a decade (we’re being generous). It was called “Match Point,” and at this point, following all the disappoints after it, it’s starting to feel like just a fluke. So when the nebbish director tried to downplay all the rumored sex scenes, lesbian trysts and three ways in the film (hello, Penelope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson, the rather unknown, but rather attractive Rebecca Hall), Harvey likely said, “alright, pull out all the stops.”
Which they haven’t even done yet, but they sure haven’t gone out of their way to suggest their isn’t tawdry sex scenes in the film and why would they? Allen needs all the help he can get at this point. This new trailer titillates in all the right ways and includes the scene where Javier Bardem tries to bed both Hall and Johansson in the same night and well, dialogue (the original trailer was just music and suggestive scenes).
The film received mixed reviews at Cannes, but at least they weren’t totally bad (not enough to scare us away). Who will win in the tug of war between “tasteful sex scenes,” and gratuitous sex and wanton nudity? For the sake of an entertaining Woody Allen movie and breasts the need proper oxygenating and sunlight everywhere, we certainly hope the latter. “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” was originally scheduled for late August, but is now due in theaters August 15 (the full synopsis is here; we’ve written it out too many damn times). PS, stick around for the end of the trailer, as theirs quite the provocative little twist.