Vicky and Cristina are two friends who share similar interests and beliefs except when it comes to matters of the heart. So, while summering in Barcelona at Vicky's aunts home, their responses to a sexy local artist's brazen offer of an immediate dalliance on a small island wildly differ, the engaged Vicky becoming grossly offended and Cristina urgently accepting. While Christina fling turns into something slightly more serious with the magnetic Spaniard, things start to become complicated when Vicky grows discontented with her betrothed and the artist's estranged, beautiful, and unstable enters the picture. "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" is further evidence of Woody Allen's seemingly endless talents, a hot and sultry romance set against the beautiful backdrop of its varying Spanish locations. It features scene stealing work from Javier Bardem and especially Oscar winning Penelope Cruz who upstage lead actresses Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson who do not sound natural reading Allen's intellectual dialogue. Christopher Evan Welch's overly informative and amateurish narration is also a detraction. Still, "VCB" offers many of the sly affectations we expect from Woody and, surprisingly, some of the other goodies we don't.
