Woody Allen has three things going for him in Wonder Wheel. A barnstorming performance from Kate Winslet. She is like a mixture of Norma Desmond and Blanche Dubois. Terrific cinematography by Vittorio Storaro. Allen frames the film like a stage play. Further cementing its roots to Tennessee Williams or Eugene O'Neill.
Set in 1950s Coney Island. Carolina (Juno Temple) married a mobster at the age of 20 years of age despite her father's warnings. Caroline did not want a safe and colourless man. She wanted excitement and danger.
Carolina found danger alright, she is on the run from the mob as she has talked too much to the police. She goes back to her father Humpty (Jim Belushi) who runs a carousel in Coney Island.
Humpty was lost when Carolina ran away as his wife also died. He met and married Ginny (Kate Winslet) who has a son Richie from her first husband. Richie has behavioural problems, he keeps skipping school and sets fires to things.
Ginny was an actress, her first marriage fell apart as she cheated on her husband. Now she is unhappily married to Humpty who can be violent when drunk and she works as a waitress, a job that she hates.
Neurotic, drinking on the sly, popping pills, hating where she works, lives. Ginny finds solace from young lifeguard Mickey (Justin Timberlake) who she is having an affair with. He has travelled the world, read books and is a bit of a dreamer. Mickey gives Ginny a good time and plans to have a better time when he later meets Carolina.
Wonder Wheel is about damaged people. There is very little comedy. It is an intense and dark drama that becomes grimmer. A flawed film by Woody Allen, I did think the screenplay was undercooked.
Humpty should had sent Carolina away, there was no way she could remain safe in Coney Island. The danger became more acute when two gangsters came to talk to Humpty.
At the end the story is about insecure, unstable, selfish, deluded Ginny. You just know she does not deserve any happiness.
Set in 1950s Coney Island. Carolina (Juno Temple) married a mobster at the age of 20 years of age despite her father's warnings. Caroline did not want a safe and colourless man. She wanted excitement and danger.
Carolina found danger alright, she is on the run from the mob as she has talked too much to the police. She goes back to her father Humpty (Jim Belushi) who runs a carousel in Coney Island.
Humpty was lost when Carolina ran away as his wife also died. He met and married Ginny (Kate Winslet) who has a son Richie from her first husband. Richie has behavioural problems, he keeps skipping school and sets fires to things.
Ginny was an actress, her first marriage fell apart as she cheated on her husband. Now she is unhappily married to Humpty who can be violent when drunk and she works as a waitress, a job that she hates.
Neurotic, drinking on the sly, popping pills, hating where she works, lives. Ginny finds solace from young lifeguard Mickey (Justin Timberlake) who she is having an affair with. He has travelled the world, read books and is a bit of a dreamer. Mickey gives Ginny a good time and plans to have a better time when he later meets Carolina.
Wonder Wheel is about damaged people. There is very little comedy. It is an intense and dark drama that becomes grimmer. A flawed film by Woody Allen, I did think the screenplay was undercooked.
Humpty should had sent Carolina away, there was no way she could remain safe in Coney Island. The danger became more acute when two gangsters came to talk to Humpty.
At the end the story is about insecure, unstable, selfish, deluded Ginny. You just know she does not deserve any happiness.