"Everyone Says I Love You" is the last of a series of smaller, wonderful films that spanned a decade after Woody Allen's box office and Oscar triumph, "Hannah and Her Sisters". It is by far his most gushingly sentimental film, and the musical he FINALLY got around to making. It's ironic that this films draws a sort of inspiration from perhaps the most reviled film musical in history, Peter Bogdanovich's "At Long Last Love" (1976), in that the actors (most of whom can't sing a note) often suddenly break into song to express their innocent moments of passion, love, pain, sorrow, fear and joy. And many of the musical moments are sung live as filmed (and it shows), yet there is a lovely nakedness to this, much like when you spy a loved one singing in front of the mirror, thinking no one is around.
Beyond the hardcore Woody fans who will find much to love and study in this showpiece, if you have any amount of silly love in your heart, see it through to the scene near the end with Allen and Goldie Hawn which begins at the Groucho Marx party and climaxes beside the Seine.
It makes the whole film worthwhile. It gave me goosebumps the first time I saw it, much like when I saw my best friend walk up the aisle with her now-husband years ago.
Allen reminds us again that this little shiver is as important as anything else in life.
Beyond the hardcore Woody fans who will find much to love and study in this showpiece, if you have any amount of silly love in your heart, see it through to the scene near the end with Allen and Goldie Hawn which begins at the Groucho Marx party and climaxes beside the Seine.
It makes the whole film worthwhile. It gave me goosebumps the first time I saw it, much like when I saw my best friend walk up the aisle with her now-husband years ago.
Allen reminds us again that this little shiver is as important as anything else in life.