When you watch a Woody Allen film, expect there to be no stable relationships in it.  This bugs me, and yet I enjoy his writing, which he does for nearly all of them, as well as sitting in the director’s chair.  Because of this dichotomy, there are some I can tolerate, and others I cannot stand.  To Rome with Love (2012) straddles the cinematic line I conceived, though I laughed in many parts despite the annoyances.  Aside from my usual issues with the casualness with which he treats the title subject, the movie is not one narrative, but a number of different plots told at the same time that have nothing to do with one another save for the setting.  It is that Roman setting that kept me going.  I have been to the Eternal City once, and would love to go again, but I see it differently than Allen does.  For me, it is the seat of Catholicism, the Faith that is the center of my life.  For Allen, it is a place of romance where you can fall in and out of love (or lust) all in an afternoon.  Due to the scattershot way this is presented, I am going to have to modify my approach, giving it to you in sections based on the people involved.  Pray for me!

The first person you meet in To Rome with Love is a traffic cop (Pierluigi Marchionne), and he is the one with the stories to tell of different people who have come to his city.  The first is of an American tourist, Hayley (Alison Pill), who, like many before her, asks for directions to a landmark from a local.  This local happens to be Michelangelo Santoli (Flavio Parenti), a dashing young lawyer who speaks English and is also going in the intended direction.  Naturally, they fall in love and he proposes.  The engagement prompts a trip across the Atlantic by Jerry (Woody Allen) and Phyllis (Judy Davis).  If you have ever seen a Woody Allen film, then you have Jerry’s personality, but he is also a retired classical music promoter.  It appears that he left the business sooner than he intended because he has an unorthodox method of looking at music.  Against Phyllis’ advice, and the Santolis wishes, he convinces Michelangelo’s father, Giancarlo Santoli (Fabio Armaliato), to try to be an opera star.  Giancarlo is content with being an undertaker, but Jerry overhears Giancarlo sing in the shower and is enchanted.  When the audition goes terribly, Jerry realizes the problem is that Giancarlo was not bathing.  The solution, then, is to have Giancarlo perform while in a shower stall.  Remarkably, he becomes a hit, and it saves Hayley and Michelangelo’s engagement.

The next thread in To Rome with Love is the unremarkable Leopoldo Pisanello (Roberto Benigni).  He is just one more Roman clerk with a family going about his daily life.  Yet, one morning he walks out to his car to go to work and is bombarded by a horde of journalists asking him questions.  He is confused, and his puzzlement remains as he is brought to a news studio where he is asked questions like what he prefers to eat for breakfast.  In short, he becomes famous, though why this happens is not clear.  Indeed, it is completely random, and not welcome at first.  There are some benefits to his situation: restaurants give him a table upon entering; people want his autograph; beautiful actresses fawn all over him; and his opinion is sought after on all manner of topics.  Though there are some perks, eventually he confides with his chauffeur (Sergio Solli) that the attention is getting to him and that he wants his old life.  Leopoldo is told that he should savor what he has while he has it, but he is getting desperate.  He is thus thankful when the next day he walks out of his house to find that the press has moved on to random another person.  Yet, as he and his wife, Sofia Pisanello (Monica Nappo) are enjoying their newfound freedom, he suddenly misses being a celebrity and tries to get people to recognize him.

Our third situation in To Rome with Love is the newly married couple Antonio (Alessandro Tiberi) and Milly (Allesandra Mastronardi).  They come from small town Italy to Rome in order to spend their honeymoon.  Also, Antonio is planning on meeting with his powerful, businessmen uncles in order to get the freshly wedded set up in the Italian capital.  Milly wants to help her husband make a good impression, so shortly after getting to their hotel room, she leaves to find a salon.  The directions she is given get her lost, and she loses her cell phone.  As such, she has no way of finding her way back to their lodgings, particularly since her memory of the establishment is vague.  Before she can be truly missed, Antonio receives a knock at the door.  He opens to Anna (Penélope Cruz), a call girl who has been mistakenly sent to his room.  His family walks in as Antonio is trying to fend off Anna’s advances.  He attempts to salvage the situation by saying that Anna is Milly, and the prostitute goes along with the ruse.  As for Milly, she wanders onto a movie set where she meets her favorite actor, Luca “Luchino” Salta (Antonio Albanese).  He takes advantage of her wide-eyed star worshipping and lures her up to his hotel room.  She is about to give into his advances when they are robbed by a man (Riccardo Scarmacio).  Not only does the thief take all Luchino’s valuables, but he ends up sleeping with a far too willing Milly.  Antonio is not innocent in this department, finally having sex with Anna when she notes how uptight he is acting.  When they finally return to their room, they say nothing of their affairs and agree they need to go back to their home town.

Our last vignette in To Rome with Love is that of John Foy (Alec Baldwin).  Actually, that is misleading.  The architect used to live in Rome, and as he walks through his old neighborhood, he meets Jack (Jesse Eisenberg).  Jack recognizes John, the former also aspiring to design buildings and the latter being well known in the field.  Jack invites John over to meet Sally (Greta Gerwig), Jack’s college girlfriend with whom he lives in Italy.  Though there is a moment when John makes his goodbye, he sticks around as an imagined presence for Jack, acting as the young man’s conscience.  Jack is going to need it because Sally has invited Monica (Ellen Paige), Sally’s best friend and a rising Hollywood star, to stay with them.  Sally warns of Monica’s flighty but seductive qualities, but Jack waves them off, affirming his love for Sally. Of course, it all changes when Monica arrives.  Eventually, the inevitable happens and they sleep with each other, though she justifies their cheating by doing it in Jack’s car.  He is about to break the news to Sally when Monica gets a phone call about a major role she cannot refuse.  In other words, despite plans of running away together, Monica is continuing her career without Jack.  There is one last scene with John that suggests he had been physically present the entire time before he says goodbye to Jack.

In looking over these four stories, it is difficult to say what a Catholic film reviewer like myself can get out of To Rome with Love.  I could focus on the Catholic setting.  In Rome, it is difficult to ignore the Faith that practically built the Italian capital we know today.  Credit should be given to the ancient Romans for founding the city.  However, the Vatican has outlasted them all, and nobody bothered to rebuild the ruins that dot the city.  It was also heartening to see a scene where they had to dodge a religious procession making its way through narrow Roman streets.  Still, these are momentary flashes of Catholicism that do not constitute a running theme.  As such, we need to broaden our focus.  The bigger point to be made through all these plots is that it is better to be satisfied with what we have rather than grasping for things that may only bring us temporary pleasure.  The Bible is pretty clear on this point.  For example, Hebrews 13:5 says, “Let your life be free from love of money but be content with what you have, for He has said, ‘I will never forsake you or abandon you.’”  In each case, you have a character looking for the quick fix rather than the long-term solution.  This includes Jerry with Giancarlo.  Despite the success the shower singer enjoys, he is keen to return to his undertaker life and enjoying his time with his family.  This is because God writes upon our hearts the desire for something more permanent.  Christians understand this as ultimately working towards eternity in Heaven.  I pray that you come to see it in the same manner.

As may be plain from this review of To Rome with Love, my reaction to it is mixed.  I do not enjoy the scandalous behavior, but there are some funny parts and some fair lessons to be gleaned.  You also need to have patience with the style in which the story is told.  If none of these work for you, then there is always the joy of viewing Rome.  That is always worth something.