Published: May 15, 2008

Cassandra's Dream DVD Review

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Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream loses a great deal in its relocation across the pond, from Allen's colorful and eccentric New York sensibility to generic UK histrionics. Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor are Terry and Ian, two lowlife London brothers with big-money dreams.

Terry is a car mechanic with a weakness for gambling and drinking, and Ian runs a restaurant with their father, but he's also got his eye on a California real estate investment. When Terry loses a sizable bundle of cash and ends up deep in debt, they look for a little help from affluent Uncle Howard (Tom Wilkinson). But their kindly uncle demands a special favor in return: They must turn hitmen and take down a rival business associate.

The slim story about sibling aspirations around the purchase of a small yacht named Cassandra, after a winning greyhound at a racetrack, shifts into bungling amateur homicidal bids, and ensuing nervous hand-wringing. Farrell and McGregor try their best to infuse their shallow characters with potent dramatic spunk, but it's basically Allen's typical neurotic nerds with tacked-on British accents.

Lightweight comedy and dark deeds here, like those cross-cultural hybrid personalities, just don't mesh. A new and different but underwhelming Woody Allen identity crisis.

Genius Products
Rated PG-13
2 1/2 stars

DVD Features: Interactive Menus; Scene Selections.

judythpiazza@newsblaze.com