It’s 1950s Coney Island and, in his latest feature, Woody Allen explores the failed American dream as both Ginny (Kate Winslet) and Humpty (Jim Belushi) struggle through a claustrophobic marriage.
Living in a run down shack overlooking the pleasure park, money is tight, laughter rare – the perfect environment for the arrival of Humpty’s estranged daughter from his first marriage. Carolina (Juno Temple) has left her husband – a small-time New Jersey mobster – with nothing to her name.
As his name suggests, Humpty is in for a great fall as Ginny becomes involved in an affair with the local lifesaver (narrator of the film, Justin Timberlake) and Carolina disappears.
With more than a nod to the anger and melancholia of missed opportunity of Tennessee Williams and 1950s British kitchen-sink dramas, Allen is in a sombre mood in what is essentially a chamber drama that sadly veers too frequently towards silliness and melodrama, wasting an excellent cast.
Rating: 44%
Director: Woody Allen (Annie Hall, Vicky Cristina Barcelona)
Writer: Woody Allen (Annie Hall, Vicky Cristina Barcelona)
Main cast: Kate Winslet (Titanic, Steve Jobs), Jim Belushi (Saturday Night Live, Red Heat), Juno Temple (Atonement, Maleficent), Justin Timberlake (The Social Network, In Time)
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