Woody Allen continues cinematic tour of Europe with To Rome With Love

After Midnight in Paris became the highest-grossing movie of his career, won him an Oscar, and just now (or so it feels like) left second-run theaters, Woody Allen is following it up with To Rome With Love. This movie similarly features a stacked ensemble cast, fawning over a foreign city, and a young Allen stand-in caught between multiple ladies. I'd say Allen is psychic for having the foresight to write and cast this thing before Midnight really blew up, but I'm pretty sure the combination of his neuroses and the ability to see the future would've killed him by now.

To Rome With Love looks like it has a lot of storylines going on, but the main one appears to be Jesse Eisenberg being tempted by his girlfriend Greta Gerwig's cool, sexual friend, Ellen Page. (Who even hooked up with a girl! Ca-ra-zy, right?) Other notable appearances include Alec Baldwin as a new friend or mentor of some sort and Penelope Cruz as a funny hooker. And don't worry, guys: They totally have a scene where they talk about classic Italian art. Any meet-cute over gelato remains unconfirmed.

I'm sure parts of To Rome With Love will be charming and amusing — particularly anything with Cruz — but it seems like Allen just has a grab bag of actors, locations, and minute plot details that he's using to put together his movies nowadays. Though who knows? Maybe I'll eat my words in 2013, when Allen's bold game-changer, Nebbishy Dude Struggles to Maintain Relationship...in Space!, becomes the runaway summer hit.