kept you strung along, but it had that kind of static mechanized quality of much of late Allen (last 20 years…) where the characters were ultimately looked down upon, judged on their folly, and simply instrumental to a worked out plot. characters never overflow it, control it. that said, it was very entertaining. Vicki Christina had something extra that's been lacking in many lately, including this one. Anthony Hopkins such a grotesque, maybe too close to home. it's funny, but I think of Mike Leigh and I think of Woody Allen, and while there's this huge level of caricature often in Leigh, he sears right through to something elemental so often. plot doesn't take the upperhand as much–more like Altman that way. all about behavior…though so much more discipline than Altman.