Wonder Wheel
In 1950s Coney Island, a young woman (Juno Temple) shows up on the doorstep of her estranged father (Jim Belushi) and his second wife (Kate Winslet), fleeing from her mobster ex-husband after turning state’s evidence. Writer/director Woody Allen is near the top of his game in terms of the performances he draws from his cast, especially Temple (someone to watch) and Winslet (never sharper or braver), and including Justin Timberlake as a lifeguard attracted to Temple while having an affair with Winslet. But the acting and Vittorio Storaro’s sun-splashed photography can’t compensate for Allen’s tiresome return to his most distasteful theme: having inconvenient people murdered and getting away with it—Crimes and Misdemeanors, Match Point and now this. It’s well done, but unpleasant and unsatisfying.
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