The You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger Trailer: Woody Allen Squared

For a brief period during the last decade, it seemed like Woody Allen finally -- finally -- had his fill of making male actors ape his most famous mannerisms and tics in an attempt to recreate the glory years when Allen himself was able to carry a film on his slight shoulders. Some pointed to the change of venue from New York to Europe for this renaissance, and that may be true -- from Match Point to Vicky Cristina Barcelona, the Woody-fied leading men were slowly being weeded out of his oeuvre. But then Whatever Works landed -- and apparently, the rest is history. With that in mind, say hello to the international trailer for You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, which offers you two Woody Allen stand-ins for the price of one!

As the trailer helpfully lays out, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger finds Alfie Shepridge (Sir Anthony Hopkins) leaving his wife Helena (Gemma Jones) for a much younger bimbo actress (Lucy Punch). Meanwhile, their only daughter (Naomi Watts) is married to Roy (Josh Brolin), a failed novelist fond of corduroy jackets and the much younger next door neighbor (Freida Pinto). There's a psychic involved, too, and Antonio Banderas as a temptation for Watts' character -- plus some jazzy big band music -- but you get the point. This looks like Allen on autopilot.

And that wouldn't be such a bad thing if Hopkins and Brolin were able to bring their own tics and mannerisms to the table, but based on the brief trailer that isn't the case. Brolin recalls Kenneth Branagh's work in Celebrity, while Hopkins flashes his chompers like Jack Nicholson by way of Annie Hall. Also, "Alfie" is a bit too close to "Alvy" for my tastes. It's Woody Allen, so of course you're going to see it -- but hopes that You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger would be another Vicky Cristina Barcelona feel dashed. Let's just hope it's better than Scoop.

VERDICT: Sold, but only because of the pedigree.