Woody Allen, at 75, is still cranking out about a picture a year.  I go see most of them, mainly because I keep hoping for another indelible movie-going experience like I had in high school when I saw Annie Hall, a film I love as much now as I did then.  Of course, there are about a half dozen of Allen’s films that I love, but I haven’t found any to interest me in quite a long time

I can’t help but wonder if he keeps making films more from habit than passion.  It sort of feels that way when I’m in the audience.

Watching his latest film You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger over the weekend just reinforces my point.  Not as painful to watch as last year’s Whatever Works, which didn’t work at all, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger is nonetheless a bit of a yawn.  Surely Allen wanted me to engage in the romantic mishaps and dysfunctional family dynamics and people – mostly men – giving in to their baser instincts, but it just felt so artificial.

If Allen’s point, one he often tries to make, is that life is meaningless and there is a lot of suffering along the way, then he might try making the point with characters who actually engage my interest and even my empathy.