To Rome with Love. Sounds like a James Bond movie. Or perhaps a clever way for Woody Allen to cash in on the most commercially successful film of his career? After first being titled Bop Decameron, which nobody on the planet understood and kept calling it 'Bob Decameron', Allen's upcoming film was then known as Nero Fiddled. Again, few knew it's actually part of an expression abut how the emperor Nero fiddled while Rome burned around him. If even the film nerds are baffled, what chance is there of an audience paying to see it?
So now why we have To Rome with Love, and we can assume it'll be another heartfelt ode to the city similar to many of Allen's New York based movies, as well as last year's Midnight in Paris. Jesse Eisenberg, Alec Baldwin, Greta Gerwig, Ellen Page, Penelope Cruz, Roberto Benigni, Alison Pill, and a number of Italy's finest actors will join Allen in his first acting role since 2006. The story is a romance told in four separate vignettes, two of which will feature Americans, the other two Italians.
I have my doubts whether Allen can continue the roll he's been on, but here's hoping he proves me wrong. To Rome With Love will open on June 22nd.
