Has Woody Allen returned to form with ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’?

Allen's latest movie grabs the attention of critics.

“Send the word to the legions of frustrated fans,” said Alonso Duralde in MSNBC.com, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a glorious return to form” for director Woody Allen. His latest movie is “funny, intelligent, provocative and heartfelt,” and it’s also his “most satisfying film in nearly 20 years.”

Don't get carried away, said Scott Foundas in The Village Voice. This is not Allen at his best. But it is “a wry and thoughtful film about the peculiar stirrings of the heart,” and it’s “certainly his most accomplished piece of work since 2005’s Match Point and arguably his funniest in the eight years since Small Time Crooks.”

There’s no doubt that some of Woody Allen’s movies “are among the best ever made,” said the Arizona Republic’s Richard Nilsen in the Detroit Free Press. But “later in his career,” he’s made “more than his share of clunkers,” and Vicky Cristina Barcelona “is one of those.”

Any director who cranks out a movie a year, as Allen does, is bound to have "ups and downs," said Jordan Riefe in The Deadbolt. But, as long as Allen continues making movies, he clearly “has the talent to make another classic.”