VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA was on my radar for a long time before I finally watched it the other day; having finally seen it, I regret the delay.  Woody Allen's latest is a great little picture about love, romance, culture and sex.  About that last part - for a movie that was hyped out of Cannes predominantly on the presence of red-hot sapphic action between Scarjo and PeeCruz, there's a shocking lack of sex in the film.  What's there works and works well, but still.  Art-house hype machine, you've deceived me yet again.  Anyway, review.  Plot and characters, right?  

Two college grads, the titular Vicky and Cristina (Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson), are vacationing in Barcelona when artist/Lothario Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) offers to take them away for a weekend of sightseeing, fine dining, local music and red hot bedroom action.  Throw his batshit-crazy ex-wife (Oscar-nominated Penelope Cruz*) into the mix and you've got a sexy recipe for disaster... or a recipe for sexy disaster.  

The cast is all around terrific.  Hall in particular was fantastic as the Woody Allen-type character, seemingly very comfortable with Woody's trademark nervous sarcasm coming out of her mouth.  Miss Scarj, who I've grown less and less interested in over the years, acquitted herself nicely in the less-interesting Cristina role.  Outshining them both are their Spanish co-stars.  Bardem makes you (almost) forget his roaring rampage of shoe-checking in Texas with effortless charm and surprising sincerity, while Cruz's Maria Elana is convincingly unstable.  Their scenes together are the best in the whole picture.

Despite its stellar cast, VCB manages to remain a small picture in scope and feeling and is the better for it.  Woody seems more interested in the characters than actually involved with them.  VCB easily could've been a devastating emotional drama, but instead the grand emotional moments are played subdued and the audience is left feeling at arm's length from the whole affair - this is a good thing.  The movie is thoughtful and curious it is about relationships - not to show to us, but to explore with us.  It isn't your typical romantic drama/comedy (thank gods for that), but it is a typical Woody Allen romance.        

Vicky Cristina Barcelona is now available on DVD.

*Pronounced "Peen-ah-low-p Cr-uh-zz"