Woody Allen’s latest film, Cassandra’s Dream, is the New York native’s third consecutive feature filmed in London–however, after a quick stop in Spain for next year’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona, it appears he is returning to good old NYC for 2009’s currently untitled film (IMDb has a plethora of facts). Allen is, for better or worse, tied to New York City in my mind, and yet, he has done a pretty decent job with these films set across the pond (Match Point succeeding a bit more than Scoop). England has something that NYC lacks–class struggle–and Allen exploits this fact in each of these films, writing about working class characters who strive (or at the least pretend) to be in a higher class.

In Cassandra’s Dream, Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell play brothers who are far from upper class. McGregor’s Ian still works at his father’s restaurant but dreams of making huge real estate deals with LA hotels. Farrell’s Terry is a grease monkey who often visits the dog races or poker tables. The film opens with the two buying a small sailboat (because you can’t truly be working class if you own a boat!).

Ian also enjoys borrowing any luxury car Terry is working on for day trips to the country. On one of these trips, he meets Angela (Hayley Atwell)–an upper class actress who dreams of becoming a Hollywood-type celebrity. Suddenly, he is desperate to find the cash for a hot hotel investment. Terry, meanwhile, has a streak of good luck, quickly followed by a night of bad luck–owing some local loan sharks thousands of pounds. The brothers need to find cash, fast–one to impress the girl and the other to keep his legs from being broken.

Along comes Uncle Howard (Tom Wilkinson)–a successful plastic surgeon with a problem of his own. A colleague of his has information which could send Howard to prison for the rest of his life (his sins?–a sort of McGuffin that is never really revealed). Howard promises to help his nephews with their current financial needs (and hints at helping more in the future) if they agree to “handle” this colleague. After all, “Family is family. Blood is blood.”

A good half-hour of film is dedicated to the brothers debating whether or not they have it in them to perform the action that is central to the plot. When they finally do get away with murder, the two begin growing apart–one enjoys his new lease on life and the other is haunted by his actions.

Needless to say, the haunted brother feels the need to seek penance by going to the police while the happy brother goes to Howard, afraid that he might not get his happily ever after. Uncle Howard sees this as as the ultimate act of betrayal and suggests that the problem be “dealt with.”

Now, some may say that Allen’s 38th film is reminiscent of his 20th–Crimes and Misdemeanors. While the acting is superb in both, I have to admit the simple-man-led-to-murder plot is done to better effect in Crimes. The plot of Cassandra’s Dream just seems too contrived at times–especially as the story comes to a close. I cannot argue that Allen isn’t a master of his craft–he tells the story simply with few cuts; in fact, there are several scenes that are told entirely with one take (which I’m always a sucker for). Sadly, Cassandra’s Dream didn’t even live up to his similarly themed 36th film, Match Point.

For anyone who loves Allen, this is definitely better than some of his more recent fare and I suggest you go out and see it while you can–while parts of the story do drag on, and true Allen-philes will see some overlap with previous films, the acting here is definitely worth a watch. For mild-Allen fans, however, I suggest you go out and rent Match Point for a much better thriller.

Cassandra’s Dream:

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