Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

The narrator in Vicky Cristina Barcelona talks like he’s reading you the back cover of a novel, and he never, ever stops. He tells you what Vicky feels while Rebecca Hall is already showing you, better, on her face. Hall is the real reason to watch. Her Vicky is the sensible one, the planner, and you can see her careful life wobble one dinner at a time. Javier Bardem plays a painter with so much easy charm that the whole movie seems a little starstruck. Then Penélope Cruz storms in as María Elena, flipping between English and Spanish mid-argument, and the film finally gets a pulse. Scarlett Johansson’s Cristina is restless and a little blank. Barcelona looks like a postcard mailed from a better life, all sunshine, Gaudí curves and guitar. It’s a complicated summer, and nobody learns much. It made $96.4 million worldwide on a reported $15M. A 6.6 because the actors are terrific and the voice-over keeps stepping on them. $6,543 says you hear a Spanish guitar somewhere this week and start pricing flights you can’t afford.

What works: Rebecca Hall and Penélope Cruz are terrific, and Barcelona has rarely looked this good on film.

What doesn’t: The nonstop narration explains every feeling the actors are already playing, and Scarlett Johansson’s Cristina stays strangely blank.

Who it’s for: Anyone in the mood for a sunny, talky grown-up comedy with gorgeous scenery and a lot of opinions about art.