Blue Jasmine

Blue Jasmine is proof that after 40-some odd movies, Woody Allen has still got it. Blue Jasmine isn't his best film (like some people on Twitter will try to tell you), but that's not to say it isn't good in it's own right. One of the biggest criticisms I've heard of Allen is that a lot of his movies are very similar, but Blue Jasmine is not like any of his others movies that I've seen. I know I haven't seen them all, but I've seen most of them by now, and Blue Jasmine is it's own creation, pure and simple.

Blue Jasmine stars Cate Blanchett as Jeanette/Jasmine who starts the movie babbling incoherently to a woman on a plane as she travels to San Francisco to move in with her sister. We soon learn this is because her great life - a Park Avenue socialite with a rich Bernie Madoff like husband (Alec Baldwin) who vacations in the Hamptons - has fallen out from under her. She is broke and seeks refuge with her working class sister (Sally Hawkins), who she never wanted anything to do with until now. Jasmine tries to get her life together but she is sort of a spoiled brat and also sort of having a nervous breakdown. She wants to be an interior decorator and wants to go back to college, but she is forced to take a menial job at a dentists office. Meanwhile, she disapproves of her sister's new fiancee (Bobby Cavanale). We see Jasmine's new miserable life in San Francisco unfold as we see flashbacks of the perfect life she had. Of course, these are subjective issues. Did Jasmine really have such a great life with her crook husband and fake friends? And is her sister's life so bad? Sure, she has a small, crappy apartment, but she has a good man who loves her and two kids. Anyway, things start to look up for Jasmine when she meets a dashing diplomat (Peter Sarsgaard) who is looking for a woman just like Jasmine.

One of the only negative things I can say about Blue Jasmine is that none of the characters are especially likable. It's sort of hard to become involved in a movie where the most likable character is played by Andrew Dice Clay (I'm not even kidding). Are we supposed to feel bad for Jasmine, as we watch her life unravel? Are we supposed to care about her as she further breaks down and starts talking to herself in public? Are we supposed to laugh at her because she sort of got what she deserved? Are we supposed to want a happy ending for her? I'm not even sure Woody knows what to do with his main character, because the movie sort of abruptly ends and we don't know what became of this bumbling, lost woman. Still, I can't think of a better ending, so, until that time comes, I can't complain too much about Woody's ending.

The truth is, Woody Allen is a master story teller. He has a man who has made many movies - a few of them bad, some of them mediocre, but many of them GREAT - and he knows a thing or two by now about weaving an interesting and dynamic story full of flawed characters. Sure, these characters might not be likable, but his dialogue is so rich and their lives feel so lived in that it is always, always, a pleasure to enter a world created by Woody Allen.

Of course, I can't review this movie without talking about the force of nature that is Cate Blanchett in this lead role. She is singular perfection and a complete tour de force. She throws everything into this role and it is a joy to watch (even when it's sort of, you know, not). The supporting performances are all great too, from Sally Hawkins to Peter Sarsgaard, from Alec Baldwin to, yes, even Andrew Dice Clay. But it's Great Cate that everyone will and should be talking about. If she doesn't win an Oscar for this completely all encompassing, fearless performance than there is something majorly wrong. I know we haven't even begun to see the prestigious movies yet, but I have a hard time believing anyone is going to give a performance better than Blanchett is Blue Jasmine this year.

Grade: B+