Review in a Hurry: For many, it's a dream to see Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor in the same movie. Wish granted: this Woody Allen dramedy features the Hollywood hunksters as Cockney dreamers who commit murder to better their situations in life. Unfortunately, even with the dreamy duo, Allen's Dream is no sleeper (or Sleeper, for that matter).
The Bigger Picture: Manhattan-man Allen must hear London calling since this is his third U.K.-based production in so many years (after Match Point and Scoop). So, no New York skylines and no jazzy strains—he has replaced George Gershwin and Cole Porter with a foreboding (and ill-fitting) soundtrack by Philip Glass. But despite the change in scenery and score, Dream suffers from undeniable déjà vu.
Raised in a working-class London household, brothers Ian (McGregor) and Terry (Farrell) seem like sweet boys; they love their mum (Clare Higgins) and girlfriends. But they're also desperate to improve their financial standing. Ian, stuck running a restaurant with his dad (John Benfield), scopes out questionable real-estate investments in the States, while alcoholic car mechanic Terry habitually gambles on card games and dog races. (The film's title, an allusion to Greek mythology, is the name of a winning greyhound and the sailboat they buy with the loot.)
After Ian falls for opportunistic actress Angela (Hayley Atwell) and Terry loses 90,000 pounds he borrowed from loan sharks, the guys run out of luck and options. Fortunately, rich Uncle Howard (Tom Wilkinson) breezes into town and agrees to help, but there's a price—the bros have to kill a colleague who's threatening to expose Howard's shady business practices.
Farrell and McGregor, while very engaging actors, aren't convincing as siblings, and all their angst before and after the murder grows tiresome. Allen attempts to mix black comedy and melodrama but doesn't generate enough laughs or scares, and he even denies us a satisfying ending. Worse, he seems to be cribbing from his earlier, better films—notably Crimes and Misdemeanors, which not only explores similar themes but also features two brothers involved in the murder of a mistress who, yes, threatens to expose some shady business practices.
Woody's Crimes is a dream. Cassandra's Dream, not so much.
The 180—a Second Opinion: A Woody Allen film is like sex—even when it's bad it's still pretty good. Actually, it's probably better than sex—with this Woody, you always get good performances and stimulating exchanges.